Skip to main content

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Full text of "Sussex in the great Civil War and the interregnum, 1642-1660"

See other formats 





of California 
a Regional 
Facility 




LIBRARY 
ONIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 



SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

AND THE INTERREGNUM 

1642-1660 




JOHN ASHBURNHAM. 



1(7 

Sussex in the Great Civil War 

and the Interregnum 

1642-1660 

BY 

CHARLES THOMAS-STANFORD 

M.A., F.S.A. 



LONDON 

PRINTED AT THE CHISWICK PRESS 

TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE 

1910 



PREFACE 

THIS book is the outcome of a lecture delivered 
at the Brighton Public Library in November 
1909, under the auspices of the Sussex Archae- 
ological Society. It was suggested at the time, in 
view of the interest now taken in matters of local 
history, that the lecture should be printed and issued 
in pamphlet form. But a mere lecture on so large a 
subject, hastily put together for a temporary purpose, 
and lacking any due distinction between the essential 
and the trivial, is perhaps not worthy to be clothed 
in the permanence of print. I have endeavoured to 
describe with more completeness and discrimination 
the part played by Sussex and Sussex men in what 
is perhaps the most momentous epoch of English 
history. It happens that the part so played was an 
important one. If the great campaigns of the Civil 
War were fought out elsewhere, Sussex nevertheless 
exerted a very special influence on the result of the 
struggle; and no county can show a lengthier list of 
men who had a leading share in it. 

In addition to the ordinary authorities for the 
events of the period, general and local, I have made 
constant use of the fifty-two volumes of the Sussex 



VI 



PREFACE 



Archaeological Society's "Collections." l Since 1846, 
when the Society was founded, successive genera- 
tions of antiquaries have laboriously gathered to- 
gether a vast store of facts relating to the county. 
In such a series there will of course be some writers 
whose statements must be accepted with caution; 
and if the earlier contributors enjoyed a virgin field, 
they lacked the copious sources opened to us by the 
Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, 
and other Government publications. For every 
statement of local importance, it has been my aim to 
quote my authority; and I hope these references 
may be of use to any one who is tempted to inquire 
further into any branch of the subject. Among 
recent works, I am especially indebted to the valuable 
articles by Miss Phyllis Wragge, Mr. L. F. Salz- 
mann, and Mr. M. Oppenheim in the Victoria 
County History. 

I have not scrupled to quote at length such con- 
temporary documents as Mr. Cawley's letter from 
Portsmouth, Dr. Bruno Reeves' account of the 
spoliation of Chichester Cathedral, Colonel Apsley's 
description of an episode in the Royalist invasion 
of 1643, Dr. Cheynell's Chillingworthi Novissima, 
the Springate letters, and the Danny papers. These 
present in their several ways a picture of the times 
not to be approached by any second-hand narrative. 
As a rule I have modernized the spelling and 
punctuation of these documents, for the reasons 

1 Quoted as S. A. C, 



PREFACE vii 

given by Carlyle in his Introduction to Cromwell's 
Letters. In certain cases, such as Cheynell's invec- 
tive, where the ancient form seemed to add a certain 
force and interest to the language, I have preserved 
it. If some proper names are not spelt with a slavish 
uniformity, I have only followed the fashion of the 
time. Ryves and Reeves, Springet and Springate, 
Yalden and Yaldwyn, Gunter and Counter these 
are examples of the variations which constantly 
occur in contemporary records. 1 

History is for reading, and even a local history 
should not be a mere storehouse of facts; I have 
therefore striven, with however little success, to 
make this a readable narrative. It may be that in 
the attempt to weave the disconnected and often 
trivial details of county affairs into a coherent story, 
I have sometimes been tempted to wander astray 
into the general history of the time. To such lapses 
I can only hope that my readers will be indulgent 

I desire to express my thanks to Mr. J. Horace 
Round, LL.D., Professor C. H. Firth, Mr. I. S. 
Leadam, and Mr. L. F. Salzmann for valuable sug- 
gestions; to Colonel Campion for permission to re- 
produce some of the papers in his possession; and 
to His Grace the Duke of Richmond and Gordon 
for a similar permission as regards the portrait of Sir 
William Waller which hangs at Goodwood House. 
To Mr. H. D. Roberts, Director of the Public 

i For Brighthelmstone I have found Bredhemson, Brightsemson, 
Broadhemson, and Brathhampston. 



viii PREFACE 

Library, Museum, and Art Galleries at Brighton, I 
am very grateful for much advice and assistance, 
both literary and practical, continually and cheerfully 
given. 

C. T.-S. 

PRESTON MANOR, 

BRIGHTON, 

September 1910. 



CONTENTS 

I. BEFORE THE WAR Page i 

War and county boundaries, Sussex and neighbouring counties Conventional 
ideas and modern methods Charles and Cromwell the Civil War not a war 
of classes the division in Sussex the gentry the inhabitants generally 
agriculture roads the iron industry destruction of timber shipbuilding 
decay of ports Winch elsea the pier of Hastings continued importance of Rye 
the passage Ship-money privateers and pirates general social conditions 
great houses new families the Parliament of 1640 the politics of Sussex 
the Protestation petition of 1642 Sussex men and the King Sir Thomas 
Lunsford and the Tower his early career the five members the bravos of 
Alsatia the King leaves London. 

II. PURITAN SUSSEX Page 22 

The Marian persecution heavy roll of Sussex victims " the blood of 
martyrs ' ' a stimulus to Protestantism Early Puritans at Rye progress of opinion 
evidence of Puritan names the Rev. John Frewen of Northiam his 
opponents Chichester Cathedral in 1616 parochial neglect spread of Puri- 
tanical ideas the Archdeaconry Court of Lewes and the Clergy the laity 
trivial offences Laud and the visitation of 1635 Sir Nicholas Brent in Sussex 
Chichester, Arundel, Lewes Rye and the Bishop Puritan magistrates the 
country gentlemen. 

III. PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER . . Page 33 

The raising of the Standard at Nottingham its significance little understood 
the forces to be engaged the trained bands infantry cavalry local troops 
of horse Ford and Morley Parliamentary weakness in cavalry harquebusiers 
and dragoons artillery the county magazines precipitate action of George 
Goring at Portsmouth his previous career and doubtful character the 
position at Chichester William Cawley Surrender of Portsmouth Colonel 
Morley's vigilance defence of East Sussex the Cinque Ports and the Continent 
alarm at Chichester Sir Edward Ford seizes Chichester Cawley's letter to 
Speaker Lenthall failure of relief from Portsmouth Ford advances on Lewes 
impressment of countrymen defeat at Hayward's Heath. 

ix 



x CONTENTS 

IV. THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER . . . Page 50 

Waller's advance into Sussex a preliminary skirmish Thomas, Earl of 
Arundel daringattack on Arundel Castle itssuccess Waller before Chichester 
a parley the trained bands a sortie assault commenced the sixth day 
a trumpet from the city surrender on Waller's terms attitude of the towns-folk 
the prisoners Sir E. Ford Sir William Morley Sir John Morley Bowyer, 
May, Lewknor, Gounter the Cathedral clergy Bishop King the Dean, Dr. 
Bruno Ryves his account of the spoliation of the Cathedral Sir Arthur 
Haselrig the Cathedral records the library the ruin of the needle-makers 
foreigners in Sussex Anthony Stapley governor of the city. 

V. THE ROYALIST INVASION Page 64 

Herbert Morley indifference of the common people refugees from Sussex 
ports Rye and Dieppe Ford active again an approaching cloud "the 
neuter" Waller appointed Major-General his base at Farnham Cawley's 
letter to the Speaker Waller and the soldiers' pay confidence of the cavaliers 
raid on Petworth fight at South Harting Hopton's invasion of Sussex the 
plan of campaign Stanstead House rally of Parliamentarians Colonel Apsley 
his account of his capture fall of Arundel a fight at Bramber the defence 
of East Sussex the Rye troop Samuel Jeake Captain Carleton Thomas 
Middleton of Hills Place Waller's preparations. 

VI. THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL . . . . Page 82 

Waller at Alton rapid advance capture of Cowdray House its contents 
the situation at Arundel Waller takes the town attempted assassination of 
Waller the Rev. John Coulton and his friends the enlistment of prisoners 
the Castle besieged large reinforcements a spy captured incidents of the 
siege Hopton's attempt to raise it Irishmen and Cornishmen a flag of truce 
a flippant application Waller faces Hopton Hopton's retreat Warblington 
Castle heavy guns at Arundel ladies in Waller's Camp terms of surrender 
Stanstead House captured difference between Stapley and Waller Sir E. 
Ford his father's petition sufferings of all classes Ford's subsequent career. 

VII. CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, AND 

SPRINGATE Page 101 

Chillingworth at Arundel his early career at the siege of Gloucester 
engines of war in the Roman method a son of the Renaissance his enemy 
Cheynell Chillingworth at Oxford Cheynell's history and book Chilling- 
worth being sick is removed to Chichester Cheynell's arguments with him 
the dying man continually harassed " preached to death by wild curates" 
controversy over his burial unseemly scene at the grave " The Religion of 
Protestants " buried with its author the arrogance of the bigot time's revenge 
another victim of the siege William Springate and his wife her letters to 



CONTENTS xi 

her grandson Springate's up-bringing a Puritan gentleman Edgehill and 
Newbury Arundel fatal sickness a brave woman's journey from London 
Springate's death his character and accomplishments. 

VIII. THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS . * . Page 119 

Parliament and the delinquents effect of threatened confiscation the Seques- 
trating Committee for Sussex John Caryll fined at Arundel the Committee for 
Compounding the terms of Compounding the Earl of Arundel Sir Thomas 
Bowyer May, Sir J. Morley, R. Williams the Earl of Thanet reasonable 
reductions Sir E. Bishop a letter from the Colony of Virginia surrender on 
Articles of War Colonel Counter and other Sussex men at Truro a riot at 
Chichester the hard case of John Lewknor Lunsford, Alford, and others 
augmentation of benefices from delinquents' fines Lord Montague and William 
Yalden the Gages and other recusants Sir Charles Shelley and the Committee 
for Advance of Money Peter Courthope and Danny. 

IX. THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY . . Page 135 

The Royalist clergy's case worse than the gentry's clerical delinquents the 
Chichester Chapter the Committee of Plundered Ministers lecturers Mr. 
Chatfield at Horsham local Committees Dr. Francis Cheynell the living of 
Petworth the wives' fifth share sufferings of ejected clergy the case of Mr. 
Apsley of Pulborough Mr. Oliver Whitby the Century of Malignant Priests 
Mr. Peckham of Horsted Parva Mr. Taunton of Ardingley Mr. Goffe of 
East Grinstead "inadequacy" Mr. Null's "scandalous curates" the im- 
portant case of Mr. Large of Rotherfield his " bad life and good living" his 
able defence a picture of religious life at the time hardships inevitable 
Colonel Morley at Hastings Mr. Hinson and Mr. Car. 

X. THE CLUBMEN Page 151 

The St. James of Dunkirk ashore at Hene a valuable prize Waller baulked 
inadequate salvage Sussex and wrecks a compromising picture the troubles 
of Rye Arundel and Chichester Waller and the gentlemen of Sussex Cow- 
dray House garrisoned Royalist activily Goring's design Algernon Sidney 
at Chichester impatience of the country folk free-quarter an incident at 
Nuthurst the Berkshire meeling a Royalisl opportunity the Sussex Clubmen 
their dispersal refusal to pay taxes strong measures the New Model In- 
dependency Fairfax the iron-foundries John Browne. 

XI. STEPHEN GOFFE AND JOHN ASHBURN- 

HAM ....... Page 179 

The King and foreign intervention the three sons of the Rector of Stanmer 
Dr. Stephen Goffe sent to Holland the letter of introduction a proposal of 



xii CONTENTS 

marriage Mazarin's project foreign troops to land at Hastings prolonged 
scheming Dutch diplomacy an anti-English King a faithful servant the 
andenne noblesse of Sussex Jack Ashburnham's career the flight from Oxford 
surrender to Hammond a barque at Hastings Ormonde escapes thence 
family divisions the Danny letters Morley and Campion Major Shilbourne 
humane conduct of the war. 

XII. HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX . . Page 196 

A new phase of the struggle Presbyterians and Independents "the 
People " change of opinion in the south-eastern counties the Surrey petition 
outbreak at Horsham prompt measures of repression a descriptive letter 
the Earl of Pembroke a day's fighting Thomas Middleton Anthony Norton 
at Rye design on Chichester Lord Norwich at Colchester an invincible army 
Finance excise wages price of corn Lord Dacre and Herstmonceux 
servants provisions guests sports posting a peaceful backwater the Rev. 
Giles Moore of Horsted Keynes. 

XIII. THE REVOLUTION Page 214 

The Remonstrance of the Army an address from Rye to Fairfax public policy 
and local grievances the King's trial and execution Parliament purged 
the High Court Sussex men named judges JohnDownes and the King's appeal 
the Sussex regicides Whitehall Bishop Juxon the King's speech Juxon's 
career a model treasurer Bishops and sport Albourne and John Juxon the 
revolution the godly and the ungodly the Engagement Rye Dacre and 
Stapley Colonel Morley "the King's business" Free-quarter abolished 
Rye and aliens Puritan severity the Book of Sports alehouses the ob- 
servance of Sunday Cavaliers and horse-races. 

XIV. SOME SUSSEX MEN .... Page 234 

John Selden Thomas May Henry Parker Accepted Frewen Thomas 
Comber Henry Gage Thomas Gage The Lunsfords the Gorings. 

XV. WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE . Page 251 

Charles II in Scotland invasion of England the Sussex Militia the battle 
of Worcester Charles' flight and wanderings "William Jackson " Colonel 
Counter of Rackton his narrative Wilmot at Rackton Mrs. Counter Mr. 
Mansel, merchant, of Chichester Counter and Mansel at Brighthelmstone 
Captain Tettersall's barque chartered Charles atHambledon Thomas Symons 
Colonel Phelips the ride through Sussex Captain Morley at Arundel 
danger at Bramber the " George " at Brighthelmstone Charles reaches 
Fecamp Mansel and Pepys the legend of Ovingdean. 



CONTENTS xiii 

XVI. THE SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH 

WAR ........ Page 264 

The influence of sea power on history the Parliament and the fleet the 
Prince of Orange's views the trade of London therevolt of 1648 the 
harbour of Rye trade with Dieppe John Evelyn at Rye and Winchelsea 
Trade in iron and horses convoys for vessels with corn for London pirates at 
Beachy Head William Key smuggling exportation of wool the North 
Sea fishery the Dutch war of 1652 the Navigation Act English success 
Dutch raids on Sussex the iron industry Thomas Newbery's journey to the 
foundries Yalden of Blackdown the slighting of Arundel gunpowder ship- 
building impressment of seamen privateers in the Spanish war the Cat pink 
gallant Captain Pittock the defences of Rye. 

XVII. MAJOR-GENERAL GOFFE AND JOHN 

STAPLEY . . . . . . Page 282 

Royalist plots reduction of the army a new militia the Major-Generals 
William Goffe extensive powers fresh imposts on Royalists Commissioners 
"for securing the peace" Goffe at Lewes John and Anthony Stapley 
Colonel Morley's local activity civil marriages tobacco planting the militia 
and its pay numbers reduced the Parliament of 1656 Morley's gout the 
Quakers in Sussex visit of George Fox prisoners at Horsham Cromwell's 
tolerance the " public ministry " augmentation of livings from sequestered 
estates the plot of 1658 Dr. Hewitt and John Stapley Sussex conspirators 
Stapley and Cromwell an abject recantation the trial. 

XVIII. ANARCHY AND RESTORATION . . Page 304 

Death and funeral of Cromwell his son's succession and failure Herbert 
Morley returns to politics his activity in the House the Long Parliament re- 
stored Royalist plots measures of repression Arundel, Chichester, Cowdray 
Culpepper at Brighthelmstone Failure of the rising the grievances of Rye 
Lambert and Morley Morley's victory the Restoration in sight Evelyn 
and Morley Morley as hero the Restoration Rewards and punishments 
Sussex Baronets created theOrder of the Royal Oak the fate of the regicides 
trial of Temple and Downes flight of Cawley and Goffe Richard Cromwell 
and Edward Ludlow escape from Lewes the curtain falls what the " Great 
Rebellion " achieved. 

APPENDIX A. LINKS WITH THE PAST . . Page 325 
APPENDIX B. A FRACAS AT LEWES . . Page 326 
INDEX Page 331 



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

JOHN ASHBURNHAM .... Frontispiece 

From an engraving by R. Graves of the portrait by 
Daniel Mytens; from John Ashburnham's Narrative and 
Vindication. London, 1830. 

MAP SHOWING THE REPRESENTATION OF SUSSEX 
IN THE LONG PARLIAMENT . . . .16 

GEORGE GORING 37 

After the portrait by Van Dyck at Petworth ; from Lodge's 
Portraits. 

CHICHESTER IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY . 52 

From Speed's Atlas, 1610. 

MAP OF WEST SUSSEX, ILLUSTRATING THE OPERA- 
TIONS OF 1643 71 

ARUNDEL 87 

From the print by Hollar. 

FACSIMILE OF RECEIPT FOR SIR WILLIAM CAM- 
PION'S FINE 134 

In the possession of Colonel Campion. 

SIR WILLIAM WALLER 151 

From the portrait by Lely at Goodwood House. 

FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF COLONEL HERBERT 
MORLEY TO SIR WILLIAM CAMPION . . .191 

FACSIMILE OF LETTER OF COLONEL HERBERT 
MORLEY TO SIR WILLIAM CAMPION . . .193 

The originals of the above are in the possession of 
Colonel Campion. 



xvi MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

BISHOP JUXON 220 

From the portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. 

JOHN SELDEN 234 

After the portrait by Daniel Mytens in the Bodleian 
Library; from Lodge's Portraits. 

SIR THOMAS LUNSFORD 244 

From a print in the British Museum. 

CHARLES II AT THE AGE OF NINETEEN . , . 257 

From Tragicum Theatrum, 1649. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 

ALABONE, Arthur, Barclay's Bank, Preston, Brighton. 
ALEXANDER, W. C., Aubrey House, Campden Hill, London, W. 
ALLEN, E. Heron, F.L.S., Large Acres, Selsey. 
ASHBURNHAM, The Right Hon. the Earl of, Ashburnham Place, 

Battle. 

ATLAY, J. B., F.S.A., 8, Adelphi Terrace, Strand, London, W.C. 
ATTREE, C. J., n, East Street, Horsham. 
ATTREE, Colonel F. W. T., F.S.A., late R.E., 53, Albert Bridge 

Road, London, S.W. 

BAGGALLAY, Rev. F., The Rectory, Pulborough. 

BALLINGER, John, M.A., Librarian, National Library of Wales, 

Aberystwyth. 

BARBER, Charles H., 24, St. Ann Street, Manchester. 
BARHAM, Sir George, Snape, Wadhurst. 
BECK, John Lister, Duncan's Farm, Billingshurst. 
BENETT-STANFORD, Captain John, Hatch House, Tisbury, Wilts. 
BEVAN, R. A., Horsgate, Cuckfield. 
BEVES, E. L., 117, Church Street, Brighton. 
BIRD, W. B. M., Eartham, Chichester. 
BIRKETT, Daniel M., Leigh Holme, Bexhill. 
BLABER, William H., 34, Cromwell Road, Hove. 
BLAKER, Ernest H., North Gate, Chichester. 
BLAKER, Reginald, 6, Wallands Crescent, Lewes. 
BORRADAILE, Charles, 3, Norfolk Terrace, Brighton. 
BORRER, W., Pakyns Manor, Hurstpierpoint. 
BOWEN, Rev. Canon, R.D., F.S.A., Monkton Priory, Pembroke. 
BOWES, R. Kirksby, Littlehampton. 
BREACH, W. Powell, Newham, Steyning. 

BRIGHTON PUBLIC LIBRARY (Henry D. Roberts, Director). (Two.) 
BURT, George, Castle Hill, Rotherfield. 

b 



xviii LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 

BUTT, Charles A., Wilbury, Beach Road, Littlehampton. 
BUXTON, Mrs. Sydney, Newtimber Place, Hassocks. 



CAMPBELL, Captain Arthur, 30, Clarges Street, London, W. 

CAMPION, Colonel, C.B., Danny, Hassocks. 

CARSON, The Right Hon. Sir E. H., K.C., M.P., Northgate, 

Rottingdean. 

CAVE, Charles J. P., Ditcham Park, Petersfield. 
CHADWYCK-HEALEY, Sir Charles E. H., K.C.B., Wyphurst, 

Cranleigh, Surrey. 
CHAMPNEYS, Sir Francis, Bart., M.D., F.R.C.P., Littlemead, 

Nutley. 
CHARRINGTON, Harry Will., Saint Helen's, 23, Park Crescent, 

Brighton. 
CHICHESTER, The Very Rev. the Dean of, The Deanery, 

Chichester. 

CHRISTIE, G. R., The Camp, Steep, Petersfield. 
CLARKE, C., Caxton House, Hayward's Heath. 
CLARKE, Somers, F.S.A., 48, Albert Gate, Kensington Gore, 

London, S.W. 

CLAYTON, C. E., Holmbush, Henfield. 
COKE-BURNELL, T., 1 8, Preston Park Avenue, Brighton. 
COLVIN, Lt.-Colonel F. F., Morley, Henfield. (Two.) 
COMBER, John, High Steep, Jarvis Brook. 
COMBER, J. M., Shoreham-by-Sea. 
COMBRIDGE, S., 56, Church Road, Hove. 
COURTHOPE, F. G., Southover, Lewes. 
COURTHOPE, George J., Whiligh. 
COURTHOPE, W. J., C.B., The Lodge, Wadhurst. 
CRAWFURD, Robert Payne, Baidland, Seaford, and East Grin- 
stead. 

CRIPPS, Albert Edward, Broomfields, Sutton Lane, Chiswick. 
CRIPPS, W. G., Camden Park, Tunbridge Wells. 
CRIPPS, W. T., 19, Lauriston Road, Preston, Brighton. 
CUCKFIELD PUBLIC LIBRARY, Cuckfield. 
CUNLIFFE, The Hon. Lady, River, Tillington, Petworth. 
CURTIS, Jas., F.S.A., Glenburn, Worcester Road, Sutton, Surrey. 
CURWEN, Mrs. Chaloner, Shorne Hill, Totton, Hants. 
CURWEN, Eldred, Withdeane Court, Brighton. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS xix 

DAVEY, Rev. Chancellor H. M., F.S. A., Cawley Priory, Chichester. 

DAY, Alfred J., Fontwell, Arundel. 

DEACON, J. L., F.R.Hist.S., F.S.Sc., Sladen House, Rye. 

DEEDES, Rev. Prebendary C., 32, Little London, Chichester. 

DOWNING, W. H., Aldine Cottage, Olton, Birmingham. 

DOWNS, Mrs., Hamsey Cottage, Seaford. 

DREWITT, C. J., Drayton House, Chichester. 

EASTBOURNE PUBLIC LIBRARY (J. H. Hardcastle, Librarian). 
EVERSHED, Henry G., Friarscourt, Shoreham-by-Sea. 
EVERY, John H., The Croft, Lewes. 

FARNCOMBE, Joseph, Saltwood, Spencer Road, Eastbourne. 
FLETCHER, C. R. L, 22, Norham Gardens, Oxford. (Two.) 
FLETCHER, W. H. B., Aldwick Manor, Bognor. 
FRESHFIELD, Douglas W., Wych Cross Place, Forest Row. 
FREWEN, Colonel, Brickwall, Northiam. 
FREWEN, Miss, 44, Greycoat Gardens, Westminster, S.W. 
FROST, Miss Marian, Public Library, Worthing. (Two.) 
FULLER, Rev. A., 7, Sydenham Hill, London, S.E. 

GAGE, The Right Hon. Viscount, Firle, Lewes. 

GATES, Ferdinand Chasemore, Nyetimber, Shelley Road, 

Worthing. 

GEERE, Edward, Mayor of Brighton, Burmah Lodge, Preston. 
GILBERT AND FIELD, LTD., 67, Moorgate Street, London, E.G. 
GILKES, J. Harry, Wychcote, Dyke Road Avenue, Patcham. 
GILLETT, W., 42, Market Street, Brighton. 
GODFREE, G. S., 23, Goldsmid Road, Brighton. (Two.) 
GoooLPHiN-OsBORNE, Lady D'Arcy, Churchill, Hemel Hemsted, 

Herts. 

GRANGE, Colonel E. L., M.A., LL.D., F.S.A., Great Grimsby. 
GRANTHAM, The Hon. Sir William, Barcombe Place, Lewes. 
GRAVES, A. F., 9, North Street Quadrant, Brighton. 
GRAY, W. Anstruther, Kilmany, Fife, N.B. 
GREENWOOD, J. A., Funtington House, Chichester. 
GREG, Thomas, F.S.A., Coles, Buntingford, Herts. 
GREGORY, H. E., Quintain House, Offham, Kent. 
GUNTER, Richard, Old House, East Grinstead. 
GWYNNE, J. E. A., F.S.A., Folkington Manor, Polegate. 






xx LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 

HALL, A. J., 33, Vernon Terrace, Brighton. 

HALL, D. B., M.P., Burton Park, Petworth. 

HAMPTON, William, Home Farm, Withdeane, Brighton. 

HANKEY, C. T. A., Templecrone, East Grinstead. 

HAWES, Edward, Pallant House, Chichester. 

HENDERSON, Mrs., Sedgwick Park, Horsham. 

HENTY, Colonel Arthur, Chestham Park, Henfield. 

HILL, Miss R. M., Huntsland, Crawley Down. 

HOBBS, James, 13, Highdown Road, Dyke Road, Brighton. 

HOLLIST, Anthony C., Highbuilding, Fernhurst, Haslemere. 

HOLMES, Arthur, Arundel. 

HOLMES, G. P., The Chalet, Felpham, Bognor. (Two.) 

HOUNSOM, Wm. A., 41, New Church Road, Brighton. (Two.) 

HOVE PUBLIC LIBRARY, J. W. Lister, Librarian. 

HUDSON, Rev. W., F.S.A., 65, Ashley Gardens, Westminster, 

London, S.W. 

HURST, A. R., Horsham Park, Horsham. (Two.) 
HUSEY-HUNT, J. H., Lewes. 

HUTCHINSON, Rev. H., Tisbury Vicarage, Salisbury. 
HUTH, Edward, Wykehurst Park, Hayward's Heath. 
HUTH, Mrs. Philip, Riverhall, Wadhurst. 

JACKSON, Major E. S., North Cheriton, Templecombe. 
JAMES, William, C.V.O., West Dean Park, Chichester. 
JENNINGS, A. O., LL.B., n, Adelaide Crescent, Hove. 
JENNISON, Major H. G. W., 171, Preston Drove, Brighton. 
JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY, THE, Manchester (H. Guppy, M.A., 
Librarian). 

KELLY, W. W., Aldingbourne, Chichester. 
KEMP, Captain W., Lyminster House, Arundel. 
KITCHIN, The Very Rev. G. W., D.D., Deanery, Durham. 

LAMB, E., M.P., Borden Wood, Liphook, Hants (per Kenneth 
Mackenzie, 9, Beaconsfield Terrace Road, West Kensington). 
LANE, John, Vigo Street, London, W. 
LANGLEY, J. N., Hedgerly Lodge, Cambridge. 
LAYTON, John, Darvell Hall, Robertsbridge. 
LEE, Augustus Charles, 56, Montpelier Road, Brighton. 
LEES, H. Ernest, Northfield, Langton Green, Kent. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS xxi 

LEWES, The Rt. Rev. the Bishop of, The Vicarage, Hove. 
LEWIN, W. H., South Road, Preston, Brighton. 
LISTER, Henry John, The Field House, Crowborough. 
LIVESAY, G. H. P., Woodleigh, Worthing. 
LLOYD, John, Astwick Manor, Hatfield, Herts. 
LODER, Gerald W. E., F.S.A., Wakehurst Place, Ardingly. 
LUCAS, C. J., Warnham Court, Horsham. 

MABERLY, Miss, Mytten, Cuckfield, Hayward's Heath. 

MACFARLANE, J. B., 49, East Street, Brighton. 

MCKELLAR, Surgeon-General E., Woodleigh, Preston Park, 

Brighton. 

MALDEN, H. M. S., Henley House, Frant. 

MARCH, Fredk. C., 9, Cornwall Gardens, Preston Park, Brighton. 
MARGESSON, Major E. W., Findon Place, Worthing. 
MARTYN, W. E., 2, Temple Gardens, London, E.G. 
MAYHEWE, Arthur, D.L., Wyfolds, Eastbourne. 
MEE, Rev. J. H., The Chantry, Westbourne, Emsworth. 
MERRIFIELD, F., 14, Clifton Terrace, Brighton. 
MITCHELL, G. S., Broadbridge Place, Horsham. 
MITCHELL, Reginald F., Lyminster Lodge, Arundel. 
MITCHELL, W. Woods, Maltravers House, Arundel. 
MONK, Mrs., St. Anne's, Lewes. 
MONTGOMERIE, D. H., 69, Bedford Gardens, Campden Hill, 

London, W. 

MOOR, Rev. Prebendary, Preston Vicarage, Brighton. 
MURRAY, T. Douglas, Iver Place, Iver, Bucks. 

NEWGASS, Mrs., Shernfold Park, Frant. 

NEWINGTON, Mrs. Campbell, The Holme, Inner Circle, Regent's 

Park, London, N.W. 
NEWLANDS, The Right Hon. Lord, Barrowfield Lodge, Brighton. 

(Two.) 

NICHOLSON, Arthur, 30, Brunswick Square, Brighton. 
NICHOLSON, Wm. Edward, Lewes. 
NORFOLK, His Grace the Duke of, E.M., K.G., Arundel Castle. 

(Two.) 

NORMAN, Rev. S. J., M.A., F.R.G.S., South Lawn, Chichester. 
NORTON, Rev. F. C., Ditchling Vicarage, Hassocks. 



xxii LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 

OLIVER, Mrs., 26, Brunswick Terrace, Brighton. 
OSBORNE, Sir Francis, Bart., The Grange, Framfield. 

PAKENHAM, The Hon. Lady, Bernhurst House, Hurst Green. 
PEACH, Charles Stanley, Abingworth, Thakeham. 
PEMBERTON, C. S., 24, Brunswick Terrace, Hove. 
PENNEY, Norman, F.S.A., Devonshire House, Bishopsgate, 

London, E.G. 
PENNEY, Sidney Rickman, Larkbarrow, Dyke Road Drive, 

Brighton. 

PHILCOX, Miss, Ashburnham, Patcham. 
PLUMMER, H., Lyntonville, Hayward's Heath. 
PONSONBY, Mrs. J. H., 15, Chesham Place, London, S.W. 
POPLEY, Wm. Hulbert, 13, Pavilion Buildings, Brighton. 
PORTEOUS, Mrs., 25, Stanhope Gardens, London, S.W. 

RALLI, Mrs. Stephen, St. Catherine's Lodge, Hove. 
RANDALL, Mrs., Cocking Rectory, Midhurst. 
RAWLINSON, George, Roseneath, Hurstpierpoint. 
RECKITT, Mrs. Arthur B., Kenmore, St. Leonard's-on-Sea. (Two.) 
REEVE, Kingsworth, Meryon House, Rye. 
RENDELL, Rev. Canon, Eydon Rectory, Byfield, Northants. 
RENSHAW, Walter C., K.C., Sandrocks, Hayward's Heath. 
RENTON, J. Hall, Rowfield Grange, Billingshurst. 
RICHARDSON, David, The Gables, Elswick, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
RICHMOND AND GORDON, His Grace the Duke of, K.G., Good- 
wood, Chichester. (Two.) 

RIDSDALE, E. A., 7, Queen's Gate Gardens, London, S.W. 
ROBERTS, Henry D., 35, Florence Road, Brighton. 
ROUND, J. Horace, LL.D., 15, Brunswick Terrace, Hove. 
ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

SALZMANN, L. F., Hope Park, Bromley, Kent. 
SAMPSON, Lt.-Col. Dudley, D.L., Buxshalls, Lindfield. 
SANDEMAN, Lt.-Col. J. G., M.V.O., F.S.A., Whin-Hurst, Hayling 

Island, Havant. 

SANDS, Harold, F.S.A., Bernersmede, Carlisle Road, Eastbourne. 
SAYER-MILWARD, Rev. W. C., Fairlight Place, Ore. 
SCARR, George, Beach House, Radcliffe, Lancashire. 
SCOTT, C. H., Heaton Mersey, Manchester. 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS xxiii 

SCULL, W. D., B.A., The Pines, Crowborough Beacon. 

SHIELL, A. G., St. Dennis, Withdeane. 

SIGNET LIBRARY, The, Edinburgh (John Minto, M.A., Librarian). 

SIMEON, Rev. J. P., The Vicarage, Patcham. 

SLADE, Edward F., Ham brook Grange, Emsworth. 

SMITH, Alpheus, Glendale, 14, Leigham Vale, Streatham, S.W. 

SMITH, R. Cunliffe, Glenleigh House, Hankham, Pevensey. 

SMITH, Wm. J., 41-43, North Street, Brighton. (Three.) 

SMITHERS, H. W., 9, Eaton Gardens, Hove. 

SNEWIN, Hubt. E., Hawthorndene, Worthing. 

STANDEN, Gilbert, 34, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London. 

STEVENS, F. Bentham, LL.B., High Street, Lewes. 

STEWART, Edward, Brook House, East Grinstead. 

STREATFEILD, R. J., The Rocks, Uckfield. 

SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Barbican House, Lewes. 

THOMAS, D. C., 21, Second Avenue, Hove. (Three.) 
THOMAS, Mrs., 21, Second Avenue, Hove. (Three.) 
THOMAS, Walter L., 7, More's Garden, Cheyne Walk, London, 

S.W. 

TOLLEMACHE, Hon. Mrs. R., 10, Brunswick Terrace, Hove. 
TREDGOLD, Miss, 12, Holland Road, Kensington, London, W. 
TREE, B. H. W., 15, St. Margaret's Road, St. Leonard's-on-Sea. 
TURNOUR-FETHERSTONHAUGH, Lt.-Col. the Hon. K., Up-park, 

Petersfield. 

WAHL, Mrs. R. F., i, Pembridge Square, Bayswater, London. 

WEDGWOOD, Rowland H., Slindon, Arundel. 

WILLETT, Mrs., St. Andrew's, Seaford. 

WINCHILSEA AND NOTTINGHAM, The Right Hon. the Earl of, 

Harlech, Merioneth. 

WOOLLAN, Joseph Henry, 42, South Park Road, Wimbledon. 
WYATT, Rev. T. G., The Vicarage, Hay ward's Heath. 
WYNDHAM, Colonel C. J., Heathfield Lodge, Midhurst. 
WYNDHAM, Hon. Percy, Clouds, East Knoyle, Salisbury. 

YOUNG, Rev. W. E. A., Pyecombe Rectory, Hassocks. 



Sussex in the Great Civil War and 
the Interregnum 1642-1660 

CHAPTER I 

BEFORE THE WAR 

HE who sets out to write the history of his county in a 
period of great national disturbance will be faced ere 
he has advanced far by the difficulty of delimiting his fron- 
tier. For ordinary administrative purposes, civil or military, 
a county may be a satisfactory unit, but county boundaries 
mean nothing to soldiers in the field; their proceedings 
are governed by other considerations. It is, therefore, not 
surprising to find that the military operations, not in them- 
selves very considerable, which took place in Sussex during 
the Civil War, were closely interwoven with similar opera- 
tions in the adjoining counties of Hampshire, Surrey, and 
Kent. And no less than the movements of the armies were 
the motions and aspirations of the civil population deter- 
mined by what was happening elsewhere. It is my purpose, 
while bearing in mind this relation to the main drift of 
events, to set forth as far as may be in ordered sequence 
the chief occurrences within the county, to glance at the 
state of its inhabitants at the time, and now and then to 
follow the fortunes of Sussex men who were playing their 
part upon a wider stage. 

One advantage the historian of to-day enjoys. It is no 
longer expected that he should take a side. He need not 
speak of " rebels " or " malignants," and if he uses the term 

B 



2 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

" regicide," it will be not as a stigma of reproach, but as a 
convenient label. The conventional idea of the eighteenth 
century, born on the day when Charles faced the block 
with placid courage, fostered by the sycophantic histories 
of the Restoration and by the attitude of the Church, and 
kept alive in romantic minds by the pathos which attaches 
to a fallen dynasty the idea that the King was almost a 
demi-god and wholly a martyr, and that Cromwell and his 
associates were a set of bloodthirsty criminals, has not 
survived the investigations of a scientific age. The re- 
action of the nineteenth century went too far. The 
" usurper " found a strange medley of worshippers. He 
was hailed alike as hero by the advocates of resolute 
government, and as saint by peace-at-any-price dissenters. 
One party recalled with envy his " settlement " of the 
Irish question; the other with admiration that he helped to 
abolish bishops and brought a king to trial. Then at 
length the truth emerged. The painstaking, emotionless, 
scientific historian, concerned to co-ordinate facts rather 
than to bolster up a parti pris, in the full maturity of his 
unrivalled knowledge summed up the Civil War, not as the 
licentious uprising of ill-restrained ambition against divinely 
constituted sovereignty, but as " rendered inevitable by the 
inadequacy of the intellectual methods of the day to effect 
a reconciliation between opposing moral forces which 
derived their strength from the past development of the 
nation " ; x and he pronounced Cromwell to have been " no 
divinely inspired hero, indeed, or faultless monster, but a 
brave honourable man, striving, according to his lights, to 
lead his countrymen into the paths of peace and god- 
liness." * 

And although the echoes of that great convulsion have 
reverberated almost until our own time, the conditions of 
our existence to-day are too far divergent to colour, at all 

1 S. R. Gardiner, History of the Great Civil War, ch. i. 

2 Ibid. Preface to the Second Edition. 



BEFORE THE WAR 3 

reasonably, our views of it. We may feel some sympathy 
for the weak, if well-meaning, king, succeeding to the evil 
heritage of his father's " king-craft " and bad counsellors, 
and driven to desperate courses by his imperious wife ; 1 
we may respect the persistence with which he maintained 
" his own conception of government, that of a wise prince 
constantly interfering to check the madness of the people," 2 
even if the duplicity of his methods repels us, and we 
realize that his " habitual perfidy " (in Macaulay's phrase) 
made it impossible for men once strenuously in opposition 
to come to any terms which they could confidently believe 
to be binding on him; we may admire his patience in 
adversity, and especially the courage and dignity with 
which he met his end ; but into the ideas and, especially, 
the religious enthusiasms of his opponents, few of us are 
able to-day to enter. Politically we live under something 
like the conditions for which at the beginning of the con- 
test they were striving ; in questions of faith and of reli- 
gious organization the modern world is taking a wholly 
different line from theirs; for most of us their aspirations 
and their difficulties have little meaning; their very lan- 
guage is commonly distasteful to us. 

With the decisive battles of Hastings and Lewes upon 
its records, the county of Sussex must ever hold a foremost 
place in English military history. But owing partly to 
its geographical position, partly to the general attitude 
of its inhabitants, it was left out of the main stream of 
contention in the great Civil War. Its cathedral of Chi- 
chester indeed suffered severely, its feudal castle of Arundel 
was partly destroyed, some of its great houses were battered, 
and it may be that some of its iron forges were damaged ; 
apart from these the county endured little injury from the 
ravages of war. Yet the drain of able-bodied men, the 

1 " Go, you coward, and pull out those rogues by the ears," she 
said, to urge him to attempt the arrest of the five members. 
a Gardiner, ch. Ixxi. 



4 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

fines and sequestrations which crippled the Royalist gentry, 
and the unprecedented taxation which fell heavily on all 
classes must have had a very depressing effect on the 
county's well being at the time. 

The historian Buckle, 1 with his own theories to support, 
has represented the Civil War as a war of classes. It was 
certainly not so in its inception; it was rather a war of 
temperaments. If the majority of the nobility and gentry 
was for the King, and the majority of the yeomanry and 
townsfolk for the Parliament, there was a great and power- 
ful minority in each class ; the political cleft was far from 
coinciding accurately with the social cleft. 2 Yet it is also 
true that as time wore on the able men who rose from the 
ranks of the lesser gentry and the commercial classes on 
the parliamentary side pushed out the aristocratic leaders 
who owed their position to their birth; and it may be 
remarked that the flood-tide of parliamentary success was 
coincident with the rise of these new men. 

In Sussex the dividing line was certainly not social. Of 
the great nobles, Thomas, Earl of Arundel, was on the 
Royalist side, but he resided abroad, busy with the col- 
lection of works of art, and took no part in the contest. 
Against him may fairly be set Algernon Percy, Earl of 
Northumberland, the lord of Petworth, " the proudest man 
alive," 3 who held high office under the Parliament. Of the 
gentry, especially in West Sussex, numerous leading 
families, some of them Catholic, took the King's part; 
among them may be named the Gages, the Gorings of 
Danny, the Bishops, the Lunsfords, the Coverts, the 
Culpeppers, the Fords, the Bowyers, May of Rawmere, the 
Morleys of Halnaker, the Ashburnhams, the Carylls, and 
the Lewknors. It is noticeable that some of these, such as 
the Bowyers, the Mays, and the Morleys (to be distin- 
guished from the Morleys of Glynde), were of the newer 

1 History of Civilization in England, vol. ii, ch. iii. 

2 See Gardiner, Civil War, ch. i. 3 Clarendon. 



BEFORE THE WAR 5 

class of gentry, who had purchased land with the profits of 
commerce or the law, and, as may be frequently observed 
in such cases, were perhaps especially inclined to take 
what seemed the more aristocratic side. In the parlia- 
mentary ranks will be found names no less eminent for 
descent or position in the county. The Pelhams, the 
Eversfields, the Gorings of Burton, the Gratwicks, the 
Burrells, Colonel Morley of Glynde, Sir John Trevor, Hay 
of Glyndbourne, Sir Herbert Springate, Anthony Stapley 
of Patcham, Thomas Middleton of Hills Place, William 
and Thomas Michelbourne, Peter Courthope, Henry 
Shelley, Anthony Shirley of Preston these were among 
the Sussex gentry who, being members of the Long Parlia- 
ment, took the Covenant, or at some time were in the 
military or civil service of the Parliament. And of many 
of the leading families some members took one side, and 
some the other. 

If the gentry were divided, the burgesses, the yeomanry, 
and the inhabitants generally were for the Parliament, as 
in the other counties of the south-east and east. Sussex 
especially had become very Puritan, 1 and it may be that 
the slow, conservative, independent character of the Anglo- 
Saxon population inclined it to view political differences 
from a severely practical standpoint. The romantic attach- 
ment to a royal house, regardless of its merits or faults, 
especially in time of misfortune, which prevailed in the 
more impressionable west, had no great force in hard- 
headed Sussex. 

In the seventeenth century forest covered a great part of 
Sussex, which is still one of the most thickly timbered 
counties in England. A contemporary writer 2 speaks of 
the weald as having formerly been a most unfruitful 
wilderness, and unfitted either for pasture or tillage until 
it be " holpen by some manner of comfort, as dung, marie, 

1 See ch. ii. a Gervase Markham. 



6 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

fresh earth, fodder, ashes or such other refreshments." In 
his day and for long after agriculture was in a backward 
state, the fields small, badly drained, and surrounded by 
woods or " shaws," which increased the general dampness 
of the county. These conditions and the exceeding badness 
of the Sussex roads made military operations within the 
county very difficult. It was only a hard and prolonged 
frost which enabled both Hopton and Waller to march 
considerable armies with great rapidity to Arundel in 
December, 1643; an d later, the Parliament declined to 
demolish certain great houses in the county, which it was 
feared might be seized by the Royalists, on the ground that 
their situation would be their best defence. 

The usual condition of the roads doubtless preserved the 
county from a very active share in the operations of the 
war. Their deficiencies at this time and long after have 
been the theme of many writers. In the spring of 1690 
Lord Chancellor Cowper, then a barrister on the Home 
Circuit, wrote to his wife from Kingston-on-Thames 
excusing himself for not having written to her from Hors- 
ham, since from that place letters had to be sent six miles 
to meet the post : " I write to you from this place as soon 
as I arrive to tell you I have come off without hurt, both 
in my going and return through Sussex ways, which are 
bad and ruinous beyond imagination. I vow 'tis a melan- 
choly consideration that mankind will inhabit such a heap 
of dirt for a poor livelihood. The county is a sink of about 
fourteen miles broad which receives all the water that falls 
from two long ranges of hills on both sides of it; and not 
being furnished with convenient draining, is kept moist 
and soft by the water till the middle of a dry summer, 
which is only able to make it tolerable to ride for a short 
time." l Even in the eighteenth century such was the con- 
dition of Sussex roads and Sussex civilization, that the 

1 Lord Campbell's Life of Lord Chancellor Cowper, p. 267. 



BEFORE THE WAR 7 

judges in the Spring Circuits dared venture no farther into 
the county than the border towns of Horsham and East 
Grinstead to hold their assizes. 1 A practical Sussex lady, 
Judith, widow of Sir Richard Shirley of Preston, who had 
remarried a judge in London, in her will dated loth January 
1728, expressed a wish " to be buried at Preston if I die at 
such time of the year as the roads thereto are passable, 
else where my executors think fit." Fortunately she died 
in the month of June, and her wish was carried out. 2 The 
learned pedant, Dr. John Burton, who wrote an account in 
Greek and Latin of his journey into Sussex in 1751, was 
anything but complimentary to the county and its in- 
habitants: " Why is it that the oxen, the swine, the women 
and all other animals are so long-legged in Sussex? May 
it be from the difficulty of pulling the feet out of so much 
mud by the strength of the ankle, that the muscles get 
stretched as it were and the bones lengthened?" He com- 
plains that the moment he left the old Roman causeway of 
Stane Street he " fell immediately upon all that was most 
bad, upon a land desolate and muddy, whether inhabited 
by men or beasts a stranger could not easily distinguish, 
and upon roads which were, to explain concisely what is 
most abominable, Sussexian." 3 

Sussex was doubtless regarded by Londoners as a savage 
and outlandish county. Their flesh was made to creep by 
such tales as the following of the existence of uncanny 
monsters in its purlieus: "True and Wonderful. A dis- 
course relating to a strange and monstrous Serpent (or 
Dragon) lately discovered and yet living to the great 
Annoyance and divers Slaughters both of Men and Cattell, 
by his strong and violent Poyson: In Sussex, two miles 
from Horsam, in a Woode called St. Leonard's Forrest, and 
thirtie miles from London, this present Month of August, 

1 S. A. C., xi, 182. 

' 2 Stemmata Shirleiana, 2nd ed., 1873, p. 314. 

8 S. A. C., viii, 254-7. 



8 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

1614." l This pamphlet relates that "there is a vast and 
unfrequented place, heathie, vaultie, full of unwholesome 
shades and overgrowne hollows, where this Serpent is 
thought to be bred ; but wheresoever bred, certaine and too 
true it is that there it yet lives. . . . He is of Countenance 
very proud, and at the sight or hearing of men or cattel 
will raise his necke upright and seem to listen and looke 
about with great arrogancy. There are likewise on either 
side of him discovered two great bunches so big as a large 
foote-ball, and (as some think) will in time grow to wings ; 
but God, I hope, will (to defend the poor people in the 
neighbourhood) that he be destroyed before he grow so 
fledge." 

When tales of such prodigies were eagerly swallowed it 
is not surprising that a belief in witchcraft, which was held 
in the highest quarters, and survived until long afterwards, 
still prevailed. The papers of the Corporation of Rye 
record several cases. In 1608 Anne, wife of George Taylor, 
gentleman, was condemned to death for witchcraft, but on 
the interference of the Earl of Northampton, Lord Warden 
of the Cinque Ports, she was respited and apparently 
escaped. His lordship wrote with humanity and discre- 
tion : " As I like at no hand that authority be made a mark 
to revenge private injuries, so am I not credulous of every 
information I receive against the magistrates for due execu- 
tion of justice, yet in this case I could be well contented in 
respect of her sex and her present state, being now with 
child, and grown very weak by reason thereof, and the 
loathsomeness of the prison, to afford her all favour war- 
rantable by law." 2 In 1645 the Mayor ordered that Martha, 
the wife of Stephen Bruff, and Anne Howsell, widow, being 
suspected to be witches, should be tried by putting them 
into the water. 3 

But if her agriculture was backward, and her means of 

1 London, J. Trundle, 1614. Harleian Miscellany, iii, 109. 

2 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii 4), 137 seq. 3 Ibid., 216. 



BEFORE THE WAR 9 

communication inadequate not an unmitigated evil in 
time of war Sussex enjoyed other sources of wealth. 
From early times the richness of the deposits of iron ore 
and the abundance of fuel had occasioned a considerable 
iron industry, which in the reign of Henry VIII became of 
national importance. The first iron cannons made in Eng- 
land were cast at Buxted by Ralph Hoge or Hogge in 
1543. This founder employed as assistant Peter Baude, a 
Frenchman; and about the same time Peter van Collet, a 
Flemish gunsmith, devised and cast mortar pieces from 
ii to 19 inches bore. 1 Their English pupils would seem in 
course of time to have outstripped their masters. Shortly 
before the Civil War we find two Frenchmen proceeded 
against for " practising to allure into France Sir Sackville 
Crow's workmen for casting ordnance." 2 

At the time of the Civil War there were in Sussex about 
twenty-seven furnaces, at most of which guns and shot were 
made, and about forty-two forges or iron-mills. It was stated 
in a petition to Charles II, praying for protection against 
Swedish iron, that under the Commonwealth the iron works 
had employed " at least 50,000 lusty able workmen." Even 
if this is an exaggeration, a large working population must 
have been engaged not only at the works themselves, but 
in the cutting, hauling, and preparation of fuel, and in the 
shipment of the finished product, which generally took place 
from Lewes, Newhaven, or Rye. The great landowners, 
such as the Pelhams, the Carylls, and the Nevilles, added 
to their wealth by engaging in the industry, or by finding 
in it a market for their timber; and newer families, such as 
the Burrells, the Gratwickes, the Fowles, and the Fullers 
rose by its aid to an important position in the county. In 
the Civil War the almost uninterrupted possession of Sussex 
and its iron-works must have been an asset of considerable 
value to the Parliamentary cause. 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), ii, 183. 

2 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, Ixx, 103 ; Ixii, 28. 



io SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

The wholesale destruction of timber as fuel at the iron- 
works was viewed with much disapproval in certain quarters. 
Drayton expressed a sentimental regret: 

Jove's oak, the warlike ash, vein'd elm, the softer beech, 
Short hazel, maple plain, light asp, the bending wych, 
Tough holly, and smooth birch, must altogether burn, 
What should the builder serve, supplies the forger's turn. 1 

And other commercial interests raised objections. Shore- 
ham, Hastings, and Rye had for centuries done a large 
trade in "billets" for firewood, not only coast-wise, but 
with French ports. With the development of the iron in- 
dustry, the price of these rapidly rose. In 1580 the charge 
at Brighton for " billet or tale wood " had risen from 2s. 6d. 
the hundredweight to 8s? The Corporations of Hastings 
and Rye conferred on the subject, 3 and pressed for legisla- 
tive interference. Various acts were passed regulating the 
cutting of wood to make charcoal for the furnaces, and pro- 
hibiting the use of timber trees for that purpose, in the 
interests of the shipbuilding industry, 4 for which the excel- 
lence of Sussex oak made it especially valuable. Long 
afterwards it was noted that " the quality of the oak timber 
may be collected from the circumstance of the Navy Con- 
tractors preferring it in all their agreements and stipulating 
for Sussex before every other species of oak." 5 

For Sussex was not only an agricultural and a manu- 
facturing county; its extended coast-line gave it some 
maritime importance, which in earlier times had been much 
greater. It has been shown that under Edward the Con- 
fessor there was a desire to make the Sussex ports, Win- 
chelsea, Rye, and New Burgh (Hastings), " a strong link of 
communication between England and Normandy," by plac- 

1 Polyolbion, Song XVII. 2 S. A. C., ii, 51. 

3 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 56. 

1 Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 247. 

5 Young, Agric. of Sussex, p. 164. 



BEFORE THE WAR n 

ing them under the control of F6camp Abbey, 1 and that 
Steyning, then a port, was granted by Edward to the same 
body. 2 Sussex abounded in harbours adapted to the use of 
mediaeval fleets Rye, Winchelsea, Pevensey, Hastings, 
Cuckmere, Shoreham, Pagham, and others. Even Brighton 
had its little harbour, at the mouth of the Wellsbourne 
stream, which now flows underground. Andrew Borde, 
writing in the reign of Henry VIII, speaks of Bryght- 
Hempston as among the " noble ports and havens of the 
realm." 3 In 1625 there were belonging "to Brightempston 
300 mariners at least." 4 By the middle of the seventeenth 
century most of the Sussex ports had fallen into decay, 
chiefly owing to the alterations of the coast-line and the 
silting up of the harbours. Winchelsea, once the great 
emporium of French wines, and in the reign of Henry VI 
the chief port of embarkation for France, had lost its 
harbour from this cause in the time of Elizabeth, and was 
now commercially ruined and almost deserted. 5 Hastings 
had suffered much from the repeated destruction of its pier, 
as appears in a very interesting memorandum preserved 
among the Corporation papers, which relates that " the pier 
of Hastings was begun to be re-edified by certain western 
men sent for of purpose from the Cobb of Lyme. 8 And by 
them was built a high work without the old pier, full south, 
all of huge rocks artificially piled edgelong one close by 
another of a great height, but without any timber, yet to 
men's judgement unremoveable it grew to so huge a pile; 

1 Professor Burrows, Historic Towns; Cinque Ports, pp. 26-9. 

2 J. Horace Round, Feudal England, p. 319. 

3 S. A. C., xvi, 247. 

4 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dxxi, 170. 5 See post, page 267. 

6 " In the very entrance into Dorset out of Denshire, the first place 
that showeth itself on the shore is Lime, a little town situate upon a 
steep hille; which scarcely may challenge the name of a Port or 
Haven towne, though it be frequented with fishermen, and hath a 
rode under it called the Cobbe, sufficiently defended from the force of 
winds with rocks and high trees." CAMDEN. 



12 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

but notwithstanding, the first winter flow overthrew it in a 
moment and dispersed the huge rocks like thin planks. 
And so that cost was lost. But the next year after other 
workmen of better knowledge (as was thought) were called 
thence, and by general consent the like piece of work was 
begun to be again built with the like huge rocks. And for 
more surety, by advice of the master workman, it was 
thought best (because they judged the decay of the former 
was for want of some timber) to lay the foundation of this 
new work within the timber work of the old pier and so to 
continue with timber braces and bars, cross dogs and such 
like up to the top. And this work was with singular in- 
dustry and art brought above the full, and by All Hallow- 
tide 1597 well near finished, viz.: thirty foot high and a 
hundred foot long at least, beautiful to behold, huge, in- 
vincible, and unremoveable in the judgement of all the 
beholders, amounting to a great charge, whereunto the 
whole shire and divers beholders were contributaries of 
benevolence, besides the Town's great expenses. But behold 
when men were most secure and thought the work to be 
perpetual, on All Saints' Day 1597 appeared the mighty 
force of God, who with the finger of his hand and one great 
and exceeding high spring tide with a south east wind 
overthrew this huge work in less than an hour, to the 
great terror and abashment of all beholders, to the great 
discredit of the like work hereafter with the Country, and 
to the manifest undoing of the Town which by reason 
thereof was left greatly indebted." 1 

Rye had also lost much of its earlier importance. It was 
stated in the draft of an Act of 1624 that the town of Rye 
had been of great consequence to the State, in that it had 
supplied his Majesty's house, and that part of the king- 
dom, with more plentiful store of fish than any two towns 
in England. Its trade and traffic had been so great that 

1 Hastings MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 357. 



BEFORE THE WAR 13 

it had paid 2,000 a year Customs in Queen Elizabeth's 
time. Its shipping and mariners had done the King and 
the kingdom greater service than any of the Ports, 1 its 
harbour was not only a place of refuge for ships in distress, 
but the most convenient in England for passage to the 
heart of France. But of late years the harbour was much 
" swarved up " with sand brought in by the sea, for want 
of a sufficient fresh to drive it back ; wherefore the town 
was impoverished for want of trade, and unpeopled, there 
being a hundred houses uninhabited. 2 

The efforts of the town authorities to keep the harbour 
open did not command universal respect. It was com- 
plained of John Allen, goldsmith, in 1611, that he had said 
that " the harbour makers were brewers and bakers, shep- 
herds and silver-candlestick-makers, carters and hogschops," 
and had made "divers other bad speeches." 3 But Rye, 
though somewhat decayed, had managed to maintain its 
position as the chief port on the coast between Dover and 
Portsmouth. It was the recognized port for traffic with 
Dieppe, and a regular service of passenger boats was kept 
up, even during the Civil War. The Rye Passage-book, a 
few years before the outbreak of hostilities, gives a long 
list of passengers of all classes between the two ports ; 4 
and in 1641 Sir Francis Windebank recommended his son 
Thomas to cross the Channel by " a little ordinary vessel 
of Rye." 5 

As a maritime county, exposed to the depredations of 
hostile fleets, Sussex had not much ground for objecting to 
the imposition of ship-money, the attempt to levy which 
upon inland counties brought matters between the King 
and his subjects to a head. The first writs were issued on 
2Oth October 1634, and addressed only to the ports and 

1 No doubt the Cinque Ports are referred to. 

2 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 167. 

3 Ibid., p. 147. * S. A. C., xviii, 170-179. 

5 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, cccclxxxii, 76-77; cccclxxxv, 116. 



14 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

maritime places. The Cinque Ports were ordered to provide 
an 8oo-ton ship (which none of them possessed), or its 
equivalent in money, 6,375. The second writ of 4th 
August 1635, required from the Cinque Ports, coupled with 
the county of Kent, an Soo-ton ship ; and from the county 
of Sussex a 5<DO-ton ship, or 5,000; towards which 
Hastings was rated at 410, Chichester at 200, Arundel 
at 30, and Shoreham at 20. The third and fourth writs 
of 1636 and 1639 required similar provision of ships, but 
the assessment of the towns was considerably reduced.' 

But the sea-side counties had their own grievance, in 
that although they were called upon to pay for a navy it was 
used not for their protection, but for dynastic purposes, or 
" merely as a pageant." 2 The Channel was full of privateers 
from Dunkirk and Ostend, and Algerian pirates, who 
reaped a rich harvest. The master of a Rye fishing boat, 
which had been plundered by a Dunkirk privateer, deposed 
that he had seen thirty-four others on the coast, and that 
there was always one stationed permanently outside the 
harbour. It is no wonder that when war broke out the sea- 
board of Sussex, in common with most of the ports 
throughout the kingdom, stood solidly to the Parliament. 

As regards the general social condition of the county in 
the period preceding the Civil War, there is plenty of 
evidence of a prevailing prosperity, in spite of occasional 
troubles, such as the great famine of 1630-3 1. 3 The build- 
ing or rebuilding of such stately mansions as Wiston, 
Danny, Slaugham, Wakehurst, Gravetye, and Blackdown, 
attests the wealth of the gentry. At the greatest of them 
all, Cowdray House, Lord Montague kept an almost royal 
state. A house in which the " officers " and other male 
servants numbered at least sixty, and probably a great 
many more, must have given much employment to the 
surrounding country. When Queen Elizabeth visited Cow- 

1 See Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 156. * Ibid., 157. 

3 See S. A. C., xvi, 20 seq. 



BEFORE THE WAR 15 

dray she was " most royallie feasted ; the proportion of 
breakfast was three oxen and one hundred and fortie 
geese." 1 And not only were the ancient families of 
the county housing themselves in splendid fashion, but 
wealthy Londoners were choosing Sussex, in spite of its 
bad roads and reputation for savagery, as a place of 
residence. Thomas May of Rawmere, in Mid Lavant, 2 
was the grandson of a rich London tailor of the time of 
Elizabeth; Sir William Morley of Halnaker was the son 
of John Morley of Saxham, in Suffolk, who, having grown 
rich in his place of " Apposer of the Extracts " in Queen 
Elizabeth's exchequer, had purchased Halnaker and ob- 
tained a grant of arms somewhat similar to those of the 
more ancient Morleys of Glynde, with whom he does not 
appear to have been connected ; 3 the gallant cavalier, Sir 
Thomas Bowyer, who, upon paying his enormous fine of 
^"2,033 i8s. yd,, said cheerfully that " he had gotten a cheap 
pennyworth to preserve peace of conscience," 4 came of a 
family enriched by trade in the City of London. 

John Evelyn, the diarist, records that his father's estate 
"was esteemed ^"4,000 per annum, 5 well wooded and full 
of timber." In 1634 "my father was appointed Sheriff for 
Surrey and Sussex, before they were disjoined ; he had 
116 servants in livery, every one liveried in green satin 
doublets ; divers gentlemen and persons of quality waited 
on him in the same garb and habit, which at that time 
(when 30 or 40 was the usual retinue of the high Sheriff) 
was esteemed a great matter." 

On 3rd November 1640, the Long Parliament met at 
Westminster; that Parliament, "which indeed is definable 
as the Father of Parliaments, which first rendered Parlia- 
ments supreme, and has since set the whole world upon 
chase of Parliaments, a notable speculation very lively in 

1 S. A. C., v, 1 86. 2 See ante, p. 4. 

3 S. A. C., v, 46. 4 Ibid., xix, 94 n. 

5 Equal to ,16,000 or ,20,000 in the present day. 



16 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

most parts of Europe to-day." 1 Sussex returned to it 
twenty-eight members, who, judged by their subsequent 
conduct, may be classed as seventeen Roundheads and 
eleven Cavaliers. On the Parliamentary side, among those 
who were to be most prominent in county affairs during 
the war, were Anthony Stapley, of Patcham, who, being 
returned both for the county and for Lewes, elected to sit 
for the county; Sir Thomas Pelham, Bart, for the county; 
Herbert Morley, of Glynde, for Lewes; William Cawley, 
of Chichester, brewer, for Midhurst; Thomas Middleton 
for Horsham. Among the Royalists, who were all "dis- 
abled" in the early years of the war, were Christopher 
Lewknor and Sir William Morley, knt, returned for 
Chichester; Sir Thomas Bowyer, for Bramber; Sir Edward 
Alford for Arundel; and John Ashburnham Charles' 
faithful friend and attendant " Jack " for Hastings. 

This House of Commons of 1640, and the House as we 
know it, are two very different things. To us the House is 
the ultimate repository of the nation's aspirations; its in- 
tentions may be delayed by the Crown or the House of 
Lords, but both forces will bow before what is held to be 
the national will decisively expressed in general elections. 
In the eventful two years between the election of the 
Long Parliament and the outbreak of war, the House was 
only feeling its way to a commanding position. The King 
was still the one permanent and guiding influence in the 
Constitution. The nation was accustomed to see parlia- 
ments summoned only at long intervals and for special 
purposes. This particular House, intent on substituting a 
limited for an absolute monarchy, and engaged on such 
momentous proceedings as the impeachment of Strafford, 
felt the need of a more precise popular mandate than its 
election had given it. Pym, the popular leader, who still 
clung to the idea that the King must be brought round by 
persuasion and not by force, that he had only to be sur- 

1 Carlyle, Cromwell, iii, 244. 



BEFORE THE WAR 17 

rounded by good counsellors for all to be right, found a 
way to such a mandate in the " Protestation." This docu- 
ment, with its accompanying resolutions, expressed in a 
manner characteristic of the times the abhorrence felt by 
the nation alike of the Romish religion and of illegal taxa- 
tion. It was ordered to be signed by all males aged eigh- 
teen and upwards, and was intended to be a " Shibboleth 
to discover a true Israelite," for " what person soever shall 
not make the protestation is unfit to bear office in the 
Church or Common-wealth." To the local historian, the 
signatures to the Protestation are perhaps even more im- 
portant than the document itself. The returns for the 
western half of Sussex are very complete, and have been 
printed. 1 Alike to the genealogist and to student of social 
conditions they are invaluable. With some allowance for 
imperfect returns, they give a total of about thirteen thous- 
and, four hundred and nineteen male inhabitants of West 
Sussex aged eighteen years and upwards. The Protestation 
was administered by the Justices of the Peace to the respect- 
ive ministers, churchwardens, and other officers, who sub- 
sequently gave it to the inhabitants of their parishes. As 
a rule in addition to the names of those who took it, the 
names of absentees and those who refused it are noted. 
Doubtless its main object was not only to support the 
Protestant religion, but also to discover Roman Catholics ; 
a fact which several of the Sussex clergy grasped. The 
return from Binderton states: "There is noe Recusant 
Papist, or any other, in this Parish, that refused to make 
this Protestation " ; the Rector of Pagham, after giving the 
names of absentees, mentions: "We have no Papists nor 
other sectaries in our Parish." As regards the diffusion of 
population, the returns give a total male population for 
Chichester of about 772; for Horsham of 509; for Petworth 

1 Sussex Record Society, vol. v, 1906; West Sussex Protestation 
Returns, 1641-2 ; transcribed, edited, and indexed by R. Garraway 
Rice, F.S.A. 

C 



i8 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

of 419; for Kirkford of 309 ; for Midhurst of 271 ; for West- 
bourne of 236; for Billingshurst of 225 ; for Pulborough of 
220; for Steyning of 204; for South Harting of 199; for 
Wisborough Green of 181 ; and for West Grinstead of 179. 
It is a piece of curiously good fortune that such definite 
information should be available. 

Some evidence of the feeling of the county is given by 
the petitions of February, 1642, from the high sheriff, 
knights, ministers, and other inhabitants of Sussex to the 
Houses of Parliament. After thanking the Lords for pass- 
ing the Bill for taking away the bishops' votes in Parlia- 
ment, and the Commons for what they had done in that 
House, the petitioners proceed : " Our humble desires are 
that the laws of God may be truly maintained ; government 
and discipline so settled that we may conform therein to 
the perfect rule of God's word; able learned and painful 
ministers may be encouraged, scandalous speedily displaced ; 
pluralities and unwarranted orders and dignities of the 
clergy taken away; that the probate of wills may be referred 
to the cognizance of temporal courts; that places of con- 
cernment in the Kingdom may be in the hands of persons 
of ability, integrity and good conversation ; Papists may be 
totally disarmed, their persons confined, their subtle con- 
veyances of their estates discovered and prevented ; secret 
evil counsels and counsellors taken away from his Majesty, 
and delinquents punished; sale of honour and offices re- 
strained ; that our county more than seventy miles naked 
to the sea may speedily be put into a posture of warlike 
defence by sea and land, seamen encouraged, fishing main- 
tained; Ireland further relieved; the clergy and others dis- 
obeying your late orders in our Cathedral and other churches 
questioned; the universities thoroughly purged; the mass 
utterly abolished." 

Although Sussex was by no means especially strong in 
Royalist families, yet of the men who were closely associ- 
ated with the King at the most critical points of his career 



BEFORE THE WAR 19 

quite a remarkable number were of Sussex birth or Sussex 
origin. Henry Gage, his governor of Oxford, John Ash- 
burnham, his treasurer and twice his comrade in flight, 
Stephen Goffe his trusted emissary to the Continent, 
Accepted Frewen his favoured chaplain, William Juxon 
his companion to the scaffold : to these we may add the 
Gorings, father and son, of whom the younger perhaps did 
more to bring ruin on the royal cause than almost any of 
its enemies. And in those last stormy weeks before Charles 
left London, his promotion of and reliance on a Sussex 
cavalier of doubtful character helped to precipitate the 
hostility both of the Parliament and the City. 

In pursuance, as it was commonly supposed, of his plan 
to arrest the leaders of the Commons, Charles on 23rd 
December 1641 dismissed Sir William Balfour, a man of 
staunch integrity, from the Lieutenancy of the Tower, and 
appointed Colonel Lunsford in his place. " Lunsford was 
only known as a debauched ruffian, who was believed cap- 
able of any villany. If the talk of the seizure and execution 
of the leaders, of which so much had been recently heard, 
was to be carried into practice, Lunsford was the very man 
to keep a tight hold on his prisoners." 1 

Thomas Lunsford, of Whiligh in East Hoathly, at this 
time about thirty-two years of age, had already enjoyed a 
somewhat varied career. Eight years before, in 1633, he 
had been brought before the Star Chamber for poaching 
the deer and assaulting the gamekeepers of his neighbour 
and cousin, Sir Thomas Pelham, and fined 1,000 to the 
King and 500 to Sir Thomas. Becoming desperate, he 
" lay in wait and beset Sir Thomas Pelham, as he was re- 
turning from church in his coach on a Sunday, discharging 
two pistols into his coach." 2 This further outrage brought 
fresh fines of 5,000 and 3,000 upon him the Star 
Chamber knew how to fine whereupon he fled to France, 

1 Gardiner, History of England, 1603-42, x, 108. 

a City of London's petition for his dismissal. S. A. C., v, 81. 



20 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

and taking service there, rose to be a colonel of foot. The 
Earl of Dorset, writing to Sir Thomas Pelham on 26th Oct- 
ober 1633, speaks of him as " that young outlaw, Mr. Luns- 
ford, who fears neither God nor man, and who having given 
himself over unto all lewdness and dissoluteness, only 
studies to affront justice." l Clarendon describes him more 
mildly as "of no good education." In 1639 he returned to 
England, became reconciled to his cousin, and obtained the 
King's pardon for his fines. 

The appointment to the Lieutenancy of the Tower of " a 
man given to drinking, swearing and quarrelling, much in 
debt and very desperate," raised a furious storm. The 
Commons requested the Earl of Newport, Constable of the 
Tower, and therefore Lunsford's superior officer, to take 
personal charge of the fortress. Charles replied by dis- 
missing Newport from the Constableship. On 26th Dec- 
ember the Lord Mayor assured the King that unless Luns- 
ford were removed he could not answer for the peace of 
the City, as the apprentices would try to storm the Tower. 
Charles yielded, dismissed Lunsford (with a knighthood), 
and appointed in his stead Sir John Byron, an honourable 
man of stainless character. But the mischief was done. 

Next day Lunsford led an attack on a number of appren- 
tices and others who had invaded Westminster Hall and 
saluted the bishops with cries of " No Popish Lords ! " A 
week later the climax came. One of the most stirring and 
dramatic scenes in the history of England was enacted on 
4th January 1642, when Charles, accompanied by an armed 
band of 300 gentlemen and servants, went down to the 
House, " stepped through the door which none of his pre- 
decessors had ever passed," 2 and demanded the surrender 
of the five popular leaders, Pym, Hampden, Holies, Hazle- 
rigg, and Strode. Baffled by their absence, and by the 
resolute dignity of the-Speaker, William Lenthall, Charles 

1 S. A. C., v, 82. 

2 Gardiner, History of England, 1603-42, x, 139. 



BEFORE THE WAR 21 

withdrew, but not before the Lunsfords of his armed 
following, 

His bravos of Alsatia and pages of Whitehall, 

had exhibited a strong desire to make short work of the 
members. "The Commons at once adjourned, with the 
sense that they had but just escaped a massacre. The 
orderly D'Ewes testified his opinion of the danger by step- 
ping to his lodgings and immediately making his will." l 

On loth January the King, with Thomas Lunsford and 
his brother Herbert in his escort, left London, never to 
return but as a prisoner to hear his sentence of death. 

1 Gardiner, History of England, 1603-42, x, 139. 



CHAPTER II 

PURITAN SUSSEX 

IF the blood of martyrs is the seed of churches, the 
Marian persecution, with its heavy roll of Sussex vic- 
tims, doubtless bore in due time its inevitable fruit. Thirty- 
three men and women, about an eighth of the total number 
of victims in all England, perished at the stake in various 
Sussex towns. Lewes has not yet forgotten the day, three 
hundred and fifty years ago, on which Richard Woodman 
the ironmaster, and nine other Protestants, were done to 
death by fire in her main street. From our general know- 
ledge of the futility of such methods of repression, we 
should infer that in the next generation or two there would 
be a sturdy growth of militant Protestantism of an advanced 
type, and with reason. Throughout the reign of Elizabeth, 
and still more in that of her successor, what came to be 
called Puritanism was advancing with great strides. Partly 
its strength was due to the deficiencies of the Reformed 
Church of England, whose ministers too often failed to 
satisfy the spiritual aspirations of their people, especially as 
regards preaching and the exposition of Scripture; partly 
to the influence of the Bible, then a new book to English- 
men, and the only book to which most of them had any 
access. Still the noblest example of the English language, 
the effect of the Bible on minds unoccupied with any rival 
literature was immense. It directed the whole trend of 
thought in the nation, it dominated the national speech, 
and it deeply affected the national character. A new and 

22 



PURITAN SUSSEX 23 

unprecedented religious fervour, a fresh conception of man's 
life and destiny, spread through every class. 

In 1591 the Mayor and Jurats of Rye were troubled 
about " a small secte of purytanes, more holy in shewe than 
in dede," who were putting the law in motion against Mr. 
Greenwood, the Corporation's preacher, for non-residence, 
and for that purpose had procured " certain mutinous fellows 
of the town who profess to be more pure than others, and 
are in deed much worse than in show " to lay an informa- 
tion against him, whereby he was very likely to be taken 
from them, and to bear the penalty of the law. By way of 
checking the proceedings of these troublesome persons, the 
Corporation held an inquiry and committed some of them 
to prison. Robert Rede, a joiner, deposed concerning a 
fellow tradesman : " I have hard Francis Godfrey say that 
my Lord of Canterbury is but the Pope of Inglande, and 
that the Booke of Comon Prayer which he alowethe to be 
sayde in the Church is but masse translated and dumdogs 
to reade it, for those ministers that do not preache they call 
them dumdogs." * 

But the Puritans were not to be easily put down in 
spite of James I's declaration that he would make them 
conform, " or else harrie them out of the land, or else do 
worse; only hang them that's all." In Sussex records of 
the time we may note a progressive change of attitude on 
the part of the authorities towards them. Nineteen years 
after the magistrates of Rye had committed Puritans to 
prison as " mutinous fellows," Rye had a Puritan mayor. 
In 1610 Richard Colbrand of Holborn, in the county of 
Middlesex, musician, deposed that while lodging at the inn 
of one Daniell at Rye, he heard the said Daniell say: "We 
have a Puritan to our Mayor and therefore you may play 
as long as you will at his door, but he will give you 
nothing." And that was the occasion that they stayed from 
playing and showing their music unto Mr. Mayor. 2 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 99. 3 Ibid., p. 144. 



24 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

The prevalence of Christian names characteristically 
Puritan during the early part of the seventeenth century, 
points to the spread of Puritan doctrines. As early as 1588 
the Rev. John Frewen, the Puritan rector of Northiam, 
baptized his eldest son " Accepted " ; l his second son he 
named " Thankfull." We are sometimes tempted to sup- 
pose that Barebone, the leather seller, who gave his name 
to the Parliament of 1653, assumed the Christian name 
" Praise-God " to be in the fashion. But the Sussex regis- 
ters of a much earlier date exhibit plentiful examples of 
such names. A jury list 2 of the period includes the follow- 
ing: Be-courteous Cole of Pevensey ; Safety-on-High Snat 
of Uckfield; Search-the-Scriptures Moreton of Salehurst; 
Increase Weeks of Cuckfield; Kill-sin Pemble of West- 
ham; Fly-debate Smart, Fly-fornication Richardson, 
Seek-wisdom Wood, Much-mercy Cryer, all of Waldron ; 
Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith White of Ewhurst; Small- 
hope Biggs of Rye; Earth Adams of Warbleton; The- 
peace-of-God Knight of Burwash. But perhaps Sussex has 
no name to show equal in strangeness to that of Humilia- 
tion Scratcher, which appears in the parish registers of 
Ware in Hertfordshire. 

The Rev. John Frewen, a man of the highest character, 
and a thorough Puritan in heart and conduct, particularly 
excited the opposition of the orthodox party. Among the 
Rye muniments is a declaration touching one John Snepp, 
otherwise unknown to fame, "that he affirmeth it was a 
merrier world when ministers might not marry; that now 
they ought not to marry, and that their children are ille- 
gitimate ; that he absented himself from church at Northiam 
for half a year, and was a profaner of the Sabbath in enter- 
taining men's servants in playing of cards and dice. That 
he threatened to pull Mr. Frewen out of the pulpit and spit 

1 Archbishop of York, 1660-64, see post, p. 240. 

2 Burrell MSS., quoted by Horsfield, Lewes, i, 202 n. See also 
Salzmann, History of Hailsham, 1901, p. 50. 



PURITAN SUSSEX 25 

in his face and make the said Mr. Frewen come to him on 
his knees; and threatened that songs should be made of 
him." l 

In 1611 some of Mr. Frewen's parishioners preferred a 
bill of indictment for nonconformity against him at the 
Lewes summer assizes; but the grand jury ignored the 
bill. 2 In 1622 Mr. Frewen himself proceeded in the ecclesi- 
astical court at Lewes against one of his parishioners, Rob- 
ert Creswell, for insulting him on the open highway, " calling 
him old Fole, old Asse, old Coxscombe," and irreverently 
attacking certain doctrines which he had propounded the 
Sunday before. After due citation Creswell was excom- 
municated. 3 

To the Puritan propaganda of such men as Frewen, the 
slackness and inefficiency of many of the church clergy 
rendered powerful assistance. Among the interrogatories 
addressed to the Chapter of Chichester Cathedral by Bishop 
Harsnett in 1616 were the following: 

(1) How often hath the Dean preached in the Cathedral 
Church, or any other Church of the Diocese, during the six 
or seven years last past? 

(2) Is an Advowson of the Benefice of Amport passed 
or granted unto a layman for money? 

(3) Do the Vicars or Singing men duly and diligently 
attend the performance of Divine Service in the Cathedral 
Church? Within these three years last have not all or most 
of them been absent at once at beginning of Divine 
Service? 

(4) How cometh it to pass that the Church officers dwell 
without the close, and laymen inhabit within it? That ale- 
houses have been lately suffered to be kept within your 
close, that laymen have keys to open the gates of the 
closes when they list? That boys and hogs do beastly 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 133. For the "making 
of songs " concerning ministers, cf. post, p. 200. 

2 Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 48. 3 Ibid. 



26 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

defile the walls and yards belonging to the Cathedral 
Church, and that no reformation hath been had herein 
notwithstanding the often complaints and presentments of 
the same? l 

If the condition of things here suggested prevailed in the 
cathedral city, we may suppose the case of many country 
parishes to have been no better. And from the records of 
the Archdeaconry Court at Lewes between 1580 and 1640 
we have ample evidence of slovenliness and worse. 2 Not 
only were the fabrics of many churches kept in ill repair, 
the windows unglazed and the roofs leaky, the churchyard 
neglected or given over to the parson's cattle; but there 
are frequent cases of personal default on the part of the 
clergy. At Clayton it was alleged that " we have had no 
sermons in our parish church since Christmas now two 
years in the default of the parson." The parson was John 
Farley, evidently a "dumdog." Thomas Bide, rector of 
Crawley, was presented " for not preaching nor reading any 
monthly sermon, no, not a sermon in the whole yeare; for 
giving himself to base and servile labour; neither is his 
apparell grave decent or comely ; hee weareth no surplice 
in tyme of divine service or ministering the sacraments; he 
catechizeth not at .all ; his houses are in decaye, the chancel 
untyled and is much decayed and in tyme will come to 
utter ruine." 

Numerous complaints in this court against the clergy for 
neglect of ceremony and ritual exhibit the spread of Puri- 
tanical ideas among them. In 1605 John Batnor, rector of 
Westmeston, was presented " for that he doth not say the 
letany, nor ten commandments ; neither doth he in bap- 
tisme signe with the signe of the Crosse, but with the signe 
of the Covenant; neither doth he weare the surplice"; and 
the vicar of Cuckfield for similar offences. In 1621 Thomas 

1 Hist. MSS. Com., Various Collections, 1901, p. 201. 

2 See the article on the Act Books of this Court by Mr. W. C. 
Renshaw, K.C., in S. A. C., xlix. 



PURITAN SUSSEX 27 

Warren, curate of Rye, " for the administering the Sacra- 
ment to many sitting and not kneeling." Mr. Warren seems 
to have been a very aggressive Puritan, and was several 
times before the Court in connection with disorderly scenes 
which took place at Rye, and one of his chief supporters, 
Joseph Benbrick, gent, was presented " for not bowing at 
the name of Jesus when the gospell is reading." 

The Court seems to have taken notice of very trivial 
charges against the laity, especially in connection with the 
observance of Sunday and holy days. Some of these are 
interesting as evidence of the petty parochial tyranny 
which prevailed at the time. Among them may be noted 
the cases of Thomas Binnes of West Hoathly " for work- 
ing on St. Luke's day last "; Thomas Ashbee of Maresfield 
"for working his oxen on the day of St. Michael"; John 
Heaves " for sittinge disorderly in the chancel with a dog 
on his knee"; James Payne of Eastbourne "for that he 
doth greatly offend the people in drunkenness being a 
manifest and vile drunkard, almost every day giving him- 
self to that beastly life"; Edmund Hall of Lullington 
"for moweing of grasse upon Midsomer day"; William 
Bagant, of Alfriston " for that he is reputed to be a usurer "; 
William Fox of Hailsham, for being " a notorious breaker 
of the Sabbath day, running matches in the tyme of divyne 
service "; the wives of Edward Jones, senior, and Edward 
Jones, junior, of Rye, each " for a common skold "; John 
Naylor of Slaugham " for hunting of conies uppon a Son- 
day "; he confessed that " he did hunt conies uppon the 
Sonday; but was at both morning and evening prayers the 
same day"; Bridget Barret of Wivelsfield "for thrusting 
of pinnes in the wife of John Dumbrell in the church in 
tyme of divine service, and for other irreverent behaviour "; 
she admitted that " she did thrust a pinne into the wife 
of John Dumbrell by reason she sate downe in her lap." l 

1 S. A. C., xlix, 49-65. 



28 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

On Laud's elevation to the archbishopric in 1633 he 
strove to check the growing flood of nonconformity by the 
curious policy of establishing absolute uniformity within 
the Church, without allowing for the diversity of the ele- 
ments which formed it. He reported to the King in 1634: 
" the bishop of Chichester certifies all well in his diocese 
save only in the east part, which is far from him, he finds 
some Puritan Justices of the Peace have awed some of the 
clergy into like opinion with themselves, which yet of late 
have not broken out into any public nonconformity." 1 In 
1635 Sir Nathaniel Brent, his vicar-general, held a metro- 
politan visitation of the diocese. His report is written in a 
humorous vein uncommon in such documents: 

Chichester, 27th June. It having been ordered that all 
should remove their hats during divine service, and that 
there should be no walking about or talking at that time, 
" Mr. Speed of St. Pancras confessed his error in being 
too popular in the pulpit; the mayor and his brethren 
are puritanically addicted, which caused me to admonish 
one of the aldermen for putting his hat on during the 
service." 

Arundel, ist July. " Mr. Nye, rector of Clapham, Mr. 
Salisbury, curate of Warningcamp, Mr. Hill, vicar of 
Felpham,are so vehemently suspected to be nonconformit- 
ants that although nothing was proved against them I 
thought fit to inhibit them to preach until I could be better 
satisfied of them. . . . Mr. Hill in the pulpit spake unto 
four of his neighbours who sat before him in one seat that 
he was certain three of them should be damned. The 
fourth was his friend, and therefore he saved him, 

"John Alberry churchwarden of Arundel having heard 
my charge in the morning, at night before he went to bed 
made a violent extemporary prayer, and pronounced it so 
loud that divers in the street did hear him; the effect 

1 Laud, Autobiog., 534; Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 32. 



PURITAN SUSSEX 29 

was, to be delivered from the persecution that was now 
coming upon them." 

Lewes, 3rd July. " Mr. Bunyard, Maynard, Russell and 
Gyles refused to bow at the blessed name of Jesus. After 
long conference, and late at night, they all submitted, con- 
fessing that they were convinced in their opinions and would 
hereafter observe the law of the Church. 

" I inhibited one Mr. Jennings to preach any more for 
particularising in the pulpit. He called one of his parish- 
ioners ' arch-knave,' and being questioned by me answered 
that it was but a lively application. The man abused did 
think he had been called ' notched knave ' and fell out with 
his barber who had lately trimmed him." 1 

The activity of Laud stimulated the energies of the 
Bishop of Chichester. In January 1637 he wrote to the 
curate of Rye with reference to a report that had reached 
him from Mr. Norton, one of the churchwardens, that 
against God's service, honour and reverence due to holy and 
consecrated places, and contrary to the laws, statutes and 
canons of the Church, the chancel of the church was used 
as an arsenal, a prison, and a place of execution of punish- 
ment. Mr. Mark Thomas, the Deputy Mayor, replied that 
no one remembered when this first began, but the south 
aisle of the chancel had long been used as a place to keep 
artillery sent from the Tower of London for the defence of 
the town, and the property of his Majesty; and he could 
not conceive that this use had commenced without the 
order of the Bishop of Chichester of the time. Bishop 
Andrews (1605-9), when he visited Rye, saw the use to 
which part of the chancel was put, and showed no dislike of 
it. This was all the profanation of the place, except that 
some " unruly servant " had been in times passed whipped 
there by the Mayor's orders. As for the complaint made 
against the curate for omitting to read the Church Ser- 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, 1635, pref. xliii; Viet. Hist. Sussex 
> 33- 



30 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

vice, and for preaching sometimes two hours, the Bishop 
was informed that "though often times he doth read the 
Litany and ten commandments, yet sometimes he doth 
omit the reading thereof, through weakness of body, as he 
saith, and we truly believe; and for the accusation of 
preaching two hours long, we do assure your Lordship that 
the accusation is altogether false; for the mostly he keepeth 
himself to his hour, and sometimes preacheth less than an 
hour." 1 

An hour appears to have been the regulation length of a 
sermon. Mr. Large of Rotherfield was in the habit of "join- 
ing both his sermons for the day together, and seldom or 
never preached for less than two hours." 2 We may feel some 
sympathy for Thomas Brett of Cuckfield, presented to the 
Archdeaconry Court, for that "he usethe commonly to 
slepe in the sermon tyme." 3 Perhaps even " dumdogs " did 
not lack admirers. 

The growing passion for preaching, combined with im- 
patience of the set services of the Church, led to the 
appointment of lecturers, who were apparently maintained 
by the voluntary contributions of their flocks. This prac- 
tice sometimes produced a good deal of friction, especially 
as regards the use of the pulpit. In 1623 the Mayor and 
Jurats of Rye wrote to the Bishop of Chichester, stating 
that under leave from the Archbishop of Canterbury they 
had, six years before, set up a lecture in their town, which 
had continued since; that of late Mr. Whitacre, curate to 
their vicar, Mr. Twine, had opposed it of his own authority, 
and would not suffer Mr. Warren, the lecturer, to go into 
the church, "of which thing we have thought good to 
certify your Lordship, humbly beseeching that so worthy a 
work, so much conducing to the honour and glory of God, 
may not be suppressed, but by your Lordship's leave and 
approbation, may still continue. Yet we dislike not Mr. 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), pp. 201-2. 

2 See post, p. 145. 3 S. A. C., xlix, 51. 



PURITAN SUSSEX 31 

Whitacre for our curate, but desire his continuance here, 
for we hold him a sufficient preacher; who, being your 
Lordship's chaplain, you can a great deal better judge of 
his learning than we." J The last sentence seems a very 
pretty piece of studied impertinence. An unseemly dis- 
turbance took place in the church, and the matter found its 
way to the Archdeaconry Court. 2 

After the outbreak of war these lecturers sometimes 
obtained the benefices of ejected ministers. 3 

The Laudian revival came too late, and proceeded by 
wrong methods. It was a hopeless task to dragoon into 
conformity within narrow limits the seething elements of 
religious enthusiasms arising out of the new found study of 
the Bible. The movement was confined to no particular 
class. If our information as to the feelings of the labouring 
class, which did not seriously count in practical affairs, is 
small, we know that the yeomen and farmers of the county, 
the burgesses and tradesfolk of the towns, were ripe for a 
religious revolt. Apart from a few old Catholic families, 
whose sufferings had but confirmed their faith, the county 
gentry were Calvinist almost to a man ; 4 the Elizabethan 
struggle with Spain had made Protestantism a patriotic 
virtue. In East Sussex the Puritan feeling of the Justices 
of the Peace was so strong that the moderately disposed 
were not able to withstand it. At the Michaelmas Quarter 
Sessions of 1639 Mr. Stapley, supported by Messrs. Rivers, 
Baker, and Hayes, delivered himself in his charge of the 
opinion that the altering of the Communion table altar- 
wise was an innovation detracting from God's glory. Mr. 
White, a justice, asked Mr. Stapley after the charge was 
done what he meant by meddling there with that business, 
which the bench had nothing to do with; to which Mr. 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), pp. 162, 170. 

3 S. A. C., xlix, 60. 

3 See the case of Mr. Chatfield at Horsham, post, p. 137. 

4 Gardiner, Civil War, xlvi. 



32 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Stapley answered that he was so pressed by other men to 
do it that he could not deny them. " The town of Lewes," 
wrote Dr. Edward Burton from Westham to Dr. Bray, 
chaplain to the Archbishop, " as well as the Sessions house, 
is tainted with him, for at this present, notwithstanding the 
Earl of Dorset's and Lord Goring's letter and intimations 
for their creatures to be parliament men, yet Mr. Stapley 
and Mr. Rivers have a strong party in the town, and it is 
much feared that they will be chosen burgesses for the 
town of Lewes. Lord forbid the greater part of a parlia- 
ment should be of their stamp, if so Lord have mercy upon 
our Church. God, who knows my heart, knows it is not 
them I except against but their condition." l 

What the Laudian revival failed to do, the Long Parlia- 
ment in some measure effected. " It singled out the 
Royalist gentlemen and the anti-Calvinist clergyman for 
special penalties, with the result that every Royalist gentle- 
man became not only a sworn foe to Puritanism, but a 
reverent admirer of doctrines and practices which ten 
years before he had pronounced to be detestable. Com- 
munity of suffering draws friends more closely together 
than community of enjoyment." 2 

England was now to reap in pain and tribulation the 
crop sown by the unwisdom of her rulers, temporal and 
spiritual. The part to be taken by Sussex in the harvesting 
was determined mainly by the direction in which for two 
or three generations the religious opinions of an ever 
increasing number of the inhabitants had been tending. 
From the sacrifice of many lives, from the ruin of many 
homes, was to spring some germ of that tolerance of hostile 
opinion which was inconceivable to both parties at the 
opening of the struggle, but is essential to the idea of 
citizenship in our less self-confident age. 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, ccccxlii, 137. 
3 Gardiner, loc, cit. 



CHAPTER III 

PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 

ON the 22nd of August 1642, in cloud and storm, King 
Charles raised the Royal Standard at Nottingham 
and formally opened the Civil War. The full significance 
of this step was perhaps not generally understood. It was 
almost universally supposed that the issue of a single field 
would decide the contest. The gallant gentlemen with the 
King believed that they had only to ride over the trained 
bands to bring His Majesty back in triumph to London; 
the parliamentarians thought they had only to show their 
mettle to reduce him to submission on the constitutional 
points at issue. Yet there were old soldiers among the 
leaders on both sides who had seen service with the Swedes 
and the Dutch, and who knew that once a shot is fired in 
anger, differences are less easily composed than before; 
knew, too, that open war was not a child's play, but a stern 
and serious business. In such a spirit did the veteran Sir 
Jacob Astley pray before Edgehill : " O Lord, Thou know 
how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not 
Thou forget me. March on, boys! " l 

Before battle is joined, a word as to the constitution of 
the forces shortly to be engaged may not be out of place. 
Since the close of the Hundred Years' War with France, 
the nation had become very unmilitary. Each county 
possessed " trained bands " drawn from those liable to serve 
in the old militia, but they were only drilled one day a 

1 Warwick's Memoirs, p. 229. 
D 



34 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

month ; they could not be compelled to serve beyond the 
boundaries of their own counties, and could seldom be 
induced to do so, except for some temporary purpose. The 
only trained bands which possessed any efficiency were 
those of the City of London, consisting chiefly of appren- 
tices, from whose close-shorn heads the nickname of 
" Roundheads " took its rise. 1 These bands speedily be- 
came the best infantry that either side possessed, though 
the King's foot, derived from the mountainous parts of the 
kingdom Wales, Cornwall, and the north were remark- 
able for strength and endurance. The trained bands as 
units being unsuited for general campaigning, enlistment 
and impressment were speedily resorted to. The ordinary 
pay of 8</. a day (about $s. ^d. in present value) was 
slightly higher than the current rate of agricultural wages ; 
but it was subject to deductions for food, and was con- 
stantly in arrear. 

The infantry were divided into two classes, the pikemen 
and the musketeers. They stood in ranks six deep; the 
musketeers of each rank having fired their pieces (with 
barrels four feet long and so heavy that they had to be 
fired from a crutch), fell back to reload. They wore no 
armour, and when charged retired behind the pikemen, who 
were protected by a half cuirass of steel and a steel cap 
over a leather bonnet. Both classes were very heavily 
laden, and thirteen miles a day was considered the limit of 
their marching powers. This was exceeded on occasion, as 
during Waller's march to Arundel in 1643. 

But the issue of the war was to depend on cavalry. At 
the outset strenuous efforts were made by the gentlemen 
on both sides to raise troops of horse, in Sussex notably by 
Sir Edward Ford for the King, and by Colonel Herbert 
Morley for the Parliament; some, such as Sir William 
Springate, spent their whole fortune in this service. The 

1 See however a recent discussion in Notes and Queries, nth S. 
i, 187, etc. 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 35 

proportion of cavalry to infantry in the armies of the 
seventeenth century was far greater than in modern times ; 
in 1646 it was laid down by an expert that there should be 
one horseman for every two footmen. At the outset the 
Royalists were far stronger in cavalry than the Parlia- 
mentarians; Essex in July 1643 complained that "the 
enemy's chief strength being in horse, and this army neither 
recruited with horses nor arms nor saddles, it is impossible 
to keep the country from being plundered; nor to fight 
with them but when and where they list; we being forced, 
when we move, to march with the whole army, which can 
be but by slow marches; so that the country suffers much 
wrong, and the cries of the poor people are infinite." ' Per- 
haps the evil reputation for plundering which the Royalist 
cavalry, especially under Rupert, soon obtained, was due 
in part to their superior numbers. 

In the Civil War the cavalry consisted chiefly of two 
classes, harquebusiers and dragoons. The heavily armed 
cuirassier was becoming obsolete, owing to the difficulty of 
finding both men and horses equal to the weight of his 
cumbrous armour, and the light horseman wearing a coat 
of mail and armed with a spear had disappeared. The 
harquebusier originally a foot soldier armed with a cross- 
bow had become a horseman armed with a carbine. The 
dragoons were simply mounted infantry. 2 

Artillery was considered indispensable for sieges, but of 
no great use in battles. The Parliament enjoyed a great 
advantage in the possession of the forges of Sussex and 
Kent, especially those of the Brownes at Brede and Horse- 
monden, on which they relied almost entirely for guns both 
for the army and the navy. 3 Artillery for the Royalist 
armies was chiefly imported from France and Holland. 

1 Old Parliamentary History, xii, 328. 

* For a full account of this subject see Cromwell's Army, by Pro- 
fessor Firth, London, 1902. 
3 See fast, p. 176. 



36 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Four or five different kinds of field guns were employed. 
The heaviest piece commonly used was the culverin, dis- 
charging a ball of from sixteen to twenty pounds in weight, 
which carried point blank about 400 paces, and had an 
extreme range of about 2,000 paces. The demi-culverin, 
more frequently employed, fired a ball of nine to twelve 
pounds, and had a somewhat lower range. The lighter 
pieces were called sakers, minions, and drakes. The saker 
fired a ball of about five pounds, the minion one of three 
and a half pounds, the drake was a three-pounder or less. 

The opening proceedings of the war were attempts by 
both sides to secure control of the existing militia organiza- 
tion. The King issued his Commissions of Array, the Par- 
liament its Militia Ordinance, to the leaders of the trained 
bands, and throughout England both parties endeavoured 
to secure possession of the county magazines in which the 
arms and ammunition of the trained bands were stored. 1 
The struggle at Chichester, about to be related, was a 
typical instance of these efforts. The indecisive result of 
the first years of warfare was chiefly due to the insufficiency 
for the purposes of a campaign of the trained bands, which 
continually refused to fight far from their homes. When it 
came to the creation of professional armies, the resources 
and intelligence of the Parliamentary leaders prevailed 
the New Model represented the evolution of an efficient 
army out of the pre-existent chaos. 

In June the King had issued from his head-quarters at 
York a proclamation prohibiting the execution of the Par- 
liamentary Militia Ordinance; and this proclamation had 
even been publicly read in the City of London by order of 
the Lord Mayor. It was also read at Chichester by order 
of the Mayor, Robert Exton ; 2 who, on being summoned 
by Parliament to give an account of the matter, fled to join 

1 A statute of James I had established a magazine of arms and 
powder for each county. 

2 Not Eaton, as in S. A. C., v, 37. 





GEORGE GORING. 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 37 

the King. On 28th July James Gresham wrote from 
Chichester to his brother-in-law, Sir Poynings More: " The 
Mayor was sent for up to the Parliament about proclaym- 
ing the proclamation my lord mayor is questioned for, and 
I heare hee hath mistaken his way and is gone to Yorke." 1 

It is probable that Charles was driven to his decisive 
step at Nottingham by the precipitate action of Colonel 
Goring, who was holding Portsmouth, ostensibly in the 
interest of the Parliament. This George Goring was the 
son of George Goring of Danny, who was created Baron 
Goring of Hurstpierpoint in 1632, and later advanced to 
the earldom of Norwich. The father played an active and 
honourable part throughout the Civil War, and ruined his 
fortunes in the King's service; the son incurred the un- 
measured censure alike of Cavaliers and Roundheads. 
Clarendon does not mince words: " Portsmouth was at the 
time of the raising of the Standard held for the King by 
one whose course from first to last, devious, uncertain, and 
unprincipled, shed disgrace upon the nobleness of his name 
and upon the honourable profession of a soldier. This man 
was Goring, than whom, on account of his private vices of 
drunkenness, cruelty and rapacity, and of his political 
timidity and treachery, scarcely anyone was more unworthy 
to be trusted with any important matters for counsel or 
execution." 

For some time past Goring had been intriguing with 
both parties. He had been one of the witnesses against 
Strafford. He had betrayed the royal " army plot" of 1641 
to the Parliament ; 2 and in the same year, while hold- 
ing Portsmouth, which was then the strongest position 
in the kingdom, as he pretended for the Parliament, he 
had offered it to the Queen as a place of refuge. Some 
report of his proceedings having reached London the Par- 
liament ordered his attendance there, it being half expected 

1 Hist. MSS. Com., vii, 677. 

- For his examination see Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 20. 



38 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

that he would not comply. But he "came upon the summons 
with that undauntedness that all clouds of distrust imme- 
diately vanished insomuch as no man presumed to whisper 
the least jealousy of him." l And he stood up and spoke 
" with a countenance full of modesty and yet not without 
a certain mixture of anger " to such persuasive effect that 
not only was he confirmed by the whole House in his com- 
mand, but was privately assured that he should be Lieu- 
ten ant-General of their Horse in their new army when it 
should be formed. Shortly before the outbreak of war he 
received large sums from both parties to be spent on im- 
proving the fortifications of the town, most of which he is 
accused of having gambled away. 

On 2nd August 1642 Goring openly declared for the 
King, and tendered an oath of allegiance to the Mayor 
and Aldermen of Portsmouth. The Parliament acted with 
promptitude. The Earl of Warwick was ordered to blockade 
the harbour with five ships, the Militia was embodied, and 
preparations were made for an attack on the land side by 
Sir William Waller. Goring had done little to put the town 
in a posture of defence, and had trusted to obtaining pro- 
visions from the Isle of Wight. But he had neglected to 
secure the small castles and blockhouses which guarded the 
passage, and the island having declared for the Parliament 
he was soon in extremity. 

"It gave," says Clarendon, " no small reputation to his 
Majesty's affairs, when there was so great a damp upon the 
spirits of men, from the misadventures at Beverley, that so 
notable a place as Portsmouth had declared for him at the 
beginning of the war." It must have come with the greater 
shock to the King to learn immediately after he had raised 
his standard that Goring, whom he might reasonably have 
supposed capable of holding out for three or four months 
against any attacking force, was on the point of surrender. 

1 Clarendon, v, 440. 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 39 

The position of affairs at Chichester was closely connected 
with that at Portsmouth. The sympathies of the city were 
Puritan, but certain of the West Sussex gentry with the 
clergy of the Cathedral formed the nucleus of a Royalist 
party, which endeavoured without delay to aid the defenders 
of Portsmouth. 1 On ipth August the Recorder, Mr. Chris- 
topher Lewknor, 2 with Sir William Morley, Sir Thomas 
Bowyer, and others demanded the city magazine for the ser- 
vice of the King. Captain Chittey, an officer of the trained 
bands, refused to surrender it, and set a strong guard. Many 
attempts were made to get supplies and letters into Ports- 
mouth, but Waller's soldiers were active in stopping com- 
munications. A woman was apprehended carrying what 
appeared to be a baby, but proved to be a bundle of letters. 
One Mr. Bellingham, 3 a young gentleman, rode fully armed 
from Chichester to Portsmouth. He afterwards tried to 
make his escape from the garrison, keeping a boat in 
readiness, for which he paid 5^. per diem. 4 

On 24th August Chichester, under the leadership of 
William Cawley, a rich brewer, and one of the members 
for Midhurst, declared openly for the Parliament, but the 
Royalists continued to intrigue, and the Cathedral clergy 
used the power of the pulpit energetically on their behalf. 
They also raised a body of light horse which was drilled 
daily in the Cathedral close, and " Dr. Hinsham, 5 a Pre- 
bendary," succeeded in sending a load of wheat to the 

1 Godwin's Civil War in Hampshire, ch. vi. 

- " The man appointed by his Majesty to take in money and plate 
on his behalfe" (Warwick's Memoirs, p. 273). S. A. C., v, 33. 

3 Probably Thomas, son of Sir Edward Bellingham, of Newtimber. 

4 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. vi. 

5 Probably Doctor Joseph Henshaw, Canon of Chichester, and 
brother of Thomas Henshaw of Basset's Fee, in Billingshurst, a dis- 
tinguished royalist, nominated by Charles II at the Restoration to be 
a knight of his proposed Order of the Royal Oak. He accompanied 
Charles II into exile. At the Restoration he became Dean of Chichester, 
and in 1663 Bishop of Peterborough (see Lower's Worthies of Sussex, 
p. 294). 



40 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Portsmouth garrison. Though no actual collision took 
place in the city at this time, the relations of the citizens 
must have been severely strained. 

On the night of Saturday 4th September, Colonel Norton, 
the Parliamentary leader, took by assault Southsea Castle, 
reputed to be the strongest fort in England for its size. 
Immediately afterwards Goring surrendered on terms, in 
the settlement of which Christopher Lewknor was employed. 
The terms were the more favourable as the Parliamentarians 
were very much afraid that Goring would execute his threat 
of blowing up the powder magazines in the town. The 
garrison were to have free passes to any place except to an 
army in arms against the Parliament. Goring himself took 
ship to Holland, whence he shortly returned to join the 
King's forces at Newcastle. 

The loss of Portsmouth was not only a severe blow to 
the King's cause in general, but it damped for the present 
the rising hopes of the Royalist party in West Sussex. In 
East Sussex the Parliament was having its own way with- 
out opposition. Colonel Herbert Morley of Glynde was 
perhaps the man of greatest influence in the county during 
this period, and his vigilance and activity on behalf of the 
Parliamentary cause were unceasing throughout the war. 
Even before the commencement of hostilities he had been 
making his preparations. By an order of the House, dated 
ist July 1642, Mr. Cordell was directed to sell unto Mr. 
Morley twenty barrels of powder for the service and defence 
of the county of Sussex. In October it was ordered " that 
Mr. Morley do go with this message to the Lords, to desire 
their lordships to hasten the passing the instructions for the 
county of Sussex; and the clerk is ordered to give Mr. 
Morley a copy of the names already sent up, to the end a 
further addition of names may be added." In November l 
" Mr. Morley carried up to the Lords the order for provid- 

1 House of Commons Journals, i8th November 1642. 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 41 

ing for the safety of the town of Lewes." This has reference 
to two previous orders of the House. (i)"That Captain 
Ambrose Trayton shall have power to call in two hundred 
men, or more if occasion shall be, into the town of Lewes, 
volunteers or others, and to command the same for the 
defence of the said town "; (2) "That the receivers of the 
propositions, money and plate, raised in the town of Lewes, 
shall detain in their hands a fifth part of the said monies 
and plate to be employed for the defence of the said town." 
On ist December it was ordered "That Mr. Morley do 
return thanks from this House to Captain Springate, and 
other Captains of the county of Sussex that have ex- 
pressed their affection to the King and Parliament, in 
raising of forces for the preservation of the peace of the 
said county." 

At this time four pieces of iron ordnance which had 
been sent to Newhaven and Brighthelmstone in 1 597 were 
returned to Lewes ; and of the three barrels of powder that 
had been kept in the town-house, one was sent to the Cliffe, 
one to Brighthelmstone, and one to Rottingdean. 1 

A matter which engaged attention at an early date was 
the securing of the Cinque Ports, the supervision of pass- 
engers to and from the Continent, and the prevention of 
the landing of foreign troops. These points having been 
considered by Parliament in the middle of August, 2 they 
were left to the care of Colonel Morley. 

The King's advance towards London after the battle of 
Edgehill, on 23rd October, which caused such lively appre- 
hension in the capital, produced similar fears in Sussex. 
The Royalists under Prince Rupert had already acquired 
an evil reputation for indiscriminate plundering. "Such 
was the care of the towns-men, yea, and of the cathedral 
men too (having heard of their plundering at Brainford) 
that they put themselves in armes, and out of their sub- 

1 Lewes Town Records. 

2 Perfect Diurnall, 15-22 August, 1642. S. A. C., v, 32. 



42 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

scribed monies maintained a considerable strength." l Early 
in November the inhabitants of Chichester under William 
Cawley, Edward Higgons, and Henry Chittey, having ob- 
tained permission from Parliament to fortify the city, pro- 
cured guns and gunpowder from Portsmouth. 

On the 2 ist the House passed an Ordinance "that Mr. 
Morley, Mr. Stapley, Sir Thomas Pelham, and Sir Thomas 
Parker, deputy-lieutenants for Sussex, Members of the 
House, should be sent down to put that County into the 
like posture of defence as is Kent, and to disarme all 
such as shall refuse to joyne with them in securing the 
County." 2 

The King had endeavoured to detach the county from 
the Parliamentary leaders by a proclamation issued at 
Reading on /th November, offering his Majesty's grace, 
favour, and pardon to the inhabitants of his county of 
Sussex, with the exception of Herbert Morley, Esq., and 
Henry Chittey, citizen of Chichester. 3 This had no effect. 
But in Chichester the Puritan party was not to have it all 
its own way. The Royalist leaders were doubtless driven 
to action by the fact that Parliament had declared that the 
Commission of Array which had been sent down by the 
King to Sir Edward Ford, 4 the High Sheriff, was illegal, 
and had ordered the immediate arrest of Ford himself. On 
the night of the I5th of November, the Royalist gentry 
assembled in the town in considerable numbers, and under 
pretence of assisting to maintain order got possession of it. 
They forced the Mayor to deliver up the keys, and possessed 
themselves of the guns and magazine. The Parliamentary 
leaders fled to Portsmouth, and next day Sir Edward Ford 
with a numerous force, consisting of the trained bands of 
the county and 100 horse, marched into the city. Being 
apprehensive as to the loyalty of the trained bands, he 

1 Perfect Diurnall, Nos. 15-22. z Ibid., 15-22 November. 

3 Broadsheet in B.M., pressmark 669, f. 5 (97). 

4 Dallaway, i, cxxix. 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 43 

caused them to be disarmed. A small force sent by the 
governor of Portsmouth failed to retake the city. 

As soon as the news reached Parliament such members 
as were concerned with Ford in the affair were expelled 
the House. 1 They were the two M.P.'s for Chichester, Sir 
W. Morley and Christopher Lewknor, Sir T. Bowyer, M.P. 
for Bramber, Thomas Leeds, M.P. for Steyning, and Thomas 
May, M.P. for Midhurst. 

The report of these proceedings at Chichester, sent from 
Portsmouth to the Speaker Lenthall by Cawley and his 
associates, is a very lucid and interesting document. 2 

EDWARD HIGGONS, WILLIAM CAWLEY AND HENRY 
CHITTEY TO WILLIAM LENTHALL. 

Portsmouth, 

November 21, 1642. 

"On Tuesday last, being the i$th of this month, we 
called all the inhabitants of the City of Chichester together 
there, to let them understand wherefore we had fortified 
the city, which was to defend ourselves from being plun- 
dered by the King's army, and to know if they would all 
join with us to secure one another from being destroyed by 
them. There was a general assent in it, not one contradict- 
ing, but with several vows and protestations resolved to 
live and die in it. Upon which agreement we went out of 
the Town Hall where the meeting was. When we came 
into the street we perceived some swords drawn at the 
north gate of the city where one of the guns we had from 
Portsmouth was placed which swords were drawn against 
the gunner. We endeavoured to pacify the rage of the 
people, but we could not, but they then overthrew the gun 
off from his carriage and possessed themselves of him, and 
from thence they went to the other parts of the city where 

1 S. A. C., v, 37. 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 72. 



44 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the other guns were placed and possessed themselves of 
them also. When this was done the chiefest gentlemen in 
and about the city gave countenance to those that did this. 

" After this the same night came Sir John Morley, Mr. 
Robert Anderson, Mr. William Wray, and Mr. Francis 
Shallett to the Mayor and demanded of him that Sir John 
Morley and twenty other gentlemen of the town might 
watch that night. The Mayor was unwilling to consent 
unto it, but they pretending it was for the settling of the 
town in quiet and to allay the fury of the common people, 
upon this it was agreed that there should watch twenty of 
the gentlemen and twenty of the citizens, and that Sir John 
Morley should have the command of the gentlemen and 
Mr. Higgons of the citizens, and that the keys of the city 
should be delivered to the Mayor. But when it came to 
the setting of the watch, there were at least thirty of the 
gentlemen and near fifty of the meaner sort of people 
gathered together, and Mr. Higgons demanding of Sir 
John Morley that there might be but twenty gentlemen 
watch and that the others should depart to their several 
homes. Sir John answered that it was not safe for him to 
speak and wished him to be quiet and denied that any 
should be discharged. He then gained the city keys into 
his hands and would not deliver them, but said they should 
be kept for the King. 

" Upon the first combustion in the town there was a 
messenger dispatched to the High Sheriff to acquaint him 
how the state of the city stood, and to desire him to come 
thither and he should have free entrance. Upon this the 
Sheriff made warrants to the several Trained Bands that 
they should appear within half a mile of the city and aid 
him to go into it the next morning at 9 o'clock, at which 
time the Sheriff accompanied with a hundred horse met the 
Trained Bands and so marched into the city, where when 
he came he commanded the Mayor to proclaim the pro- 
clamation of pardon to all the county except Herbert 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 45 

Morley, Esq., and Henry Chittey, citizen. The Mayor 
refusing they forced him to go to the Cross, and then the 
Sheriff commanded the Proclamation to be proclaimed. 
After that was done he made search in diverse well-affected 
persons' houses for arms and all they found they seized and 
took away, and put the Commission of Array in execution, 
and displaced Captain Chittey and in his place put Sir John 
Morley. Then Nicholas Wolfe took the charge of Captain 
Oglander's band and so settled the Commission of Array. 
To countenance and attend the Sheriff in this action there 
was Sir William Forde, Sir William Morley, who hath sent 
the Sheriff four horses completely furnished for war, Sir 
John Morley, Sir Edward Bishopp, Thomas Leedes, one of 
your House, who is made Captain of the horse for Arundel 
Rape Sir Thomas Bowyer hath sent a horse Robert An- 
derson a lawyer, Nicholas Wolfe a Justice of the Peace, 
Francis Shallett, William May, Thomas Gunter, who was 
[in command of] a troop in Portsmouth with Colonel 
Goring, John Apsley, William Rishton, two of Mr. Robert 
Heath's sons, Francis Pury, George Gunter, Philip King 
the Bishop's brother, and John King the Bishop's son, and 
Edward Osborne with divers others. They have seized the 
magazine which was for the county as likewise ten barrels 
of powder we had from Portsmouth by order from the 
Parliament. 

" Upon Wednesday we came to Portsmouth and addressed 
ourselves to the Governor and the Committee making them 
acquainted in what condition we were, and how the guns 
and powder which we had from the Governor were wrested 
from us. The Governor being very sensible of the affront 
to the Parliament and to himself, and apprehending that if 
there were some expedition used in the business it would 
be very feasible to regain the guns and powder, so that it 
were done before the Sheriff could call in the country, and 
to that purpose he despatched Captain Swanley and Captain 
Winnford with seamen and landsmen upon the Thursday 



46 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

to effect that service, but it pleased God so to turn the 
wind that they could not gain the harbour that night. The 
next day they gained the harbour, but before they could 
come near the place they intended to land the tide fell, so 
that they could get no further that night than an island 
called Thorney. When Captain Swanley found how con- 
trary the wind had been to him he dispatched away his 
lieutenant with a trumpeter to demand the guns and 
powder of the Mayor, or any others that had the charge of 
them at Chichester. When the lieutenant came there 
demanding where the Mayor was it was answered he was 
not to be spoken with, and they told him he must go to the 
governor of the city, by which name the Sheriff was styled. 
He delivered his message : the answer was that he had a 
command from the King to detain the guns and powder to 
his use, and until he had a command from the King to 
deliver them he would keep them. With this answer the 
lieutenant returned to Captain Swanley, informing him 
likewise how the city was up in arms, and that he conceived 
there were eight hundred or a thousand soldiers in the city. 
Upon this Captain Swanley and Captain Winnford took 
into consideration whether it were fit for them being not 
above two hundred strong to venture into the city or no. 
In the close they resolved the Governor of Portsmouth 
should be made acquainted with the proceedings, as like- 
wise to inform him what they heard the strength of the 
city was, which was that they had near a hundred horse 
and a thousand foot. The Governor being informed of these 
passages and knowing of what consequence Portsmouth 
is to the kingdom, and what a weakening it would be to 
the town if he should lose either landsmen or seamen, 
therefore gave directions that the captains and their men 
should return back to Portsmouth. 

" The Sheriff, having intelligence that there was some 
forces coming against himself from Portsmouth, made his 
warrants to all the country near the city, and commanded 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 47 

all men instantly to repair to Chichester upon pain of death 
or of being plundered, pretending Prince Robert was com- 
ing and that if he were not resisted they were all undone. 
Upon this trick he gained the country to come into the 
city, where when he had them he locked the gates and set 
a strong guard at them so that they could not retire to 
their own houses, but were forced to abide in the city. The 
countrymen express that they have no hearts to the ser- 
vice, but they are kept in with hopes that there will forces 
come from the King and it is given out the city shall be 
made a garrison. We hear there are both foot and horse 
come from the King into the city, but we have no certain 
information of the truth thereof. Divers houses are threat- 
ened to be plundered within and without the city; the 
Sheriff, being abetted by the gentlemen before named, is 
extreme violent in the Commission of Array. They have 
taken and imprisoned some men, and have cast irons upon 
one and thrust him into the dungeon. They set two pistols 
to the Mayor's breast, and offered him to take an oath, but 
what the contents of the oath is we know not. We desire 
you to acquaint the House of all that has befallen us, and 
that Parliament will take into consideration what this may 
grow to. 

" Postscript. Captain Chittey and Edward Higgons were 
forced to fly to Portsmouth without any money, and the 
Sheriff will not suffer any goods to be brought out. They 
desire that for the present they may have some moneys 
out of the Contribution Money." 

The House promptly sent instructions to its representa- 
tives in Sussex: " Whereas His Majesty for the furtherance 
and prosecution of this unnatural war against his subjects, 
hath appointed Edward Ford, Esq., son of Sir William Ford, 
to be Sheriff of the County of Sussex, who by pretext 
thereof, hath raised the power of the said County, and 



48 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

strengthening himself with other forces, hath seized the 
city of Chichester, and in divers manners spoiled divers of 
his Majesty's good subjects, and forced them to forsake 
their dwellings: for more speedy suppression of this and 
all other such traitors and rebels, you shall seize upon the 
person of the said Ford, and upon the persons of all others 
who are aiding and assisting him, and shall send them up 
in safe custody to the Parliament; and you shall seize the 
houses, lands rents and other goods and chattels of the said 
person and all others who have taken up arms against the 
Parliament; and shall send up to the Speaker of the Com- 
mons' House a perfect schedule of such houses, lands, rents 
goods and chattels, and shall put the same into such hands 
as shall be answerable and accountable for the same. 

" You shall take away the arms and horses of such as do 
refuse to contribute horsemen or arms upon the proposition : 
and you shall force all Papists, and persons disaffected to 
the Parliament, to contribute towards the maintenance of 
your army." l 

But it was one thing to make such an order, and another 
to execute it. 

Sir Edward Ford was not content with his easy success 
at Chichester. Regardless of the fact that Sir William 
Waller, having captured Winchester, was preparing to in- 
vade Sussex with a large force, he set out in company with 
the Earl of Thanet to attack Lewes. In order to obtain 
recruits he took the somewhat summary course of ordering 
all men capable of bearing arms to join his ranks under 
pain of death and of having their houses burnt. 2 A few 
recruits were obtained by these means, but they did not 
make zealous soldiers. At Hayward's Heath, Ford was met 
by a somewhat less numerous Parliamentary force. Neither 
party had any artillery. The Parliamentarians attacked 
with great fierceness, and after an hour's fighting, when 

1 House of Commons Journals, 7th December, 1642. 

2 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. viii. 



PORTSMOUTH AND CHICHESTER 49 

their reserves came up, completely routed the Cavaliers, 
who lost, it is said, not less than 200 men. The unhappy 
countrymen who had been pressed into service, threw down 
their arms and ran as fast as their legs could carry them to 
the neighbouring villages of Hurst and Ditchling, where 
we may suppose that their experience of the first fight on 
Sussex soil for many a long day lost nothing in the telling. 
The Cavaliers fled to the Downs and thence to Chichester. 
News of this engagement reached Parliament on 8th Dec- 
ember. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 

A FEW days later Waller's victorious forces were con- 
verging on Chichester. The main body came by way 
of Havant, losing many by desertion on the road, pay 
being much in arrear and discontent rife. It appears that 
their march was not unopposed. There are vague accounts 
of a fight "with a great party of the King's army in a 
great field for seven hours very courageously." l This was 
probably little more than a skirmish of advance guards. 
At length Sergeant-Major Skippon came up with eleven 
troops of horse and the Cavaliers fled, many of them being 
captured and some 200 slain. The victorious army is said 
to have lost about forty. 

Waller himself, with Colonel Browne, his second in 
command, proceeded towards Chichester, but before arriving 
there he sent a small detachment of a hundred men to 
capture Arundel Castle. Its owner, Thomas, Earl of 
Arundel, had retired to the Continent in the previous year; 
but his son and heir, Lord Mowbray, had from the first 
attached himself to the King's cause, and he continued to 
fight in the royal army for three years. He then retired to 
the Continent, but having succeeded in 1646 at his father's 
death to his title and estates, he returned to England, and 
was allowed at his own request to compound for 6,ooo. 2 
It appears rather strange that so important a post as 

1 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. viii. 
* S. A. C., v, 41. 

50 



THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 51 

Arundel, which, if well garrisoned and provisioned, could 
have been made almost impregnable, should have been left 
so ill-guarded. If Sir Edward Ford and his friends had 
concentrated their energies upon it, instead of vainly 
endeavouring to hold the city of Chichester with its dis- 
affected population, they might have offered a much more 
serious resistance to Sir William Waller. Probably the 
absence of the Earl made any such arrangement difficult 
or impossible. At any rate, it was now in charge of a 
garrison of about a hundred men, who were not expecting 
the arrival of any hostile force. 1 

Waller's gallant attacking party rode into the town, and 
while the remainder held the Royalist townsfolk in check, 
thirty-six daring spirits assaulted the castle. They blew in 
the gate with a petard, 2 and, dashing in, surprised and 
secured the garrison. Among the prisoners were Sir 
Richard Lechford and his son "a great Papist" and 
one Captain Goulding, who was employed in raising men 
and arms in Sussex for the Royalists in Chichester. The 
prisoners were sent to London. The victors, who had 
taken this important stronghold without the loss of a man, 
were rewarded by the capture of 100 horses, together with 
arms and stores. 

1 Vicar's Jehoveh-Jirah, God in the Mount; or England's Parlia- 
mentarie Chronicle, 1644, p. 231. 

2 A favourite method of attacking fortified houses or castles unpro- 
vided with outworks, was to apply a petard to the gate and blow it in. 
The most lucid explanation of the process is given by Sir Henry Lee, 
in the thirty-third chapter of Woodstock, to his house-maid Phoebe, 
while Cromwell is attaching one to the front door of the manor house. 
" ' What can they be doing now, sir?' said Phoebe, hearing a noise as 
it were of a carpenter turning screw nails, mixed with a low buzz of 
men talking. ' They are fixing a petard,' said the knight with great 
composure. ' I have noted thee for a clever wench, Phoebe, and I will 
explain it to thee : 'Tis a metal pot, shaped very much like one of the 
roguish knaves own sugar-loaf hats, supposing it had a narrower brim 
it is charged with some few pounds of fine gunpowder'" (see Firth, 
Cromwell's Army, p. 166). 



52 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

The fate of Chichester was now to be decided. Waller 
arrived before the town on 2ist December 1642, his force 
amounting to about 6,000 men. He had been joined the 
evening before by three troops of horse and two companies 
of " Dragooneers " under Colonel Morley and Sir Michael 
Levesey. 1 The Trained Bands of Sussex, who had been dis- 
armed a month earlier by Sir Edward Ford, the High 
Sheriff, expressed their resolve " to regain and fetch their 
arms from Chichester or else to lose their lives in the 
attempt thereof." And they were as good as their word. 

When Waller appeared before Chichester, the garrison 
made a sortie, but were repulsed with the loss of one killed 
and one taken prisoner. Waller suffered no loss, and 
secured his position " upon a Downe called the Broils, the 
only commanding ground about the town " ; and under fire 
from the guns of the town the rest of the day was spent in 
constructing siege batteries. With the approval of Sir 
Arthur Haselrig and the rest of his officers, Waller next 
summoned the city to surrender. A parley followed, the 
besiegers being represented by Major Horatio Carey and 
Captain Catre, for whom Colonel Lindsay and Lieutenant- 
Colonel Potter were sent as hostages. Waller's demands 
were as follows: An absolute surrender of the city, with 
the giving up of Sir Edward Ford, of all Papists, and of 
all persons considered by the Parliament as delinquents ; 
the soldiers to depart without arms; the officers to retain 
their swords and horses under a pledge never again to take 
up arms against the Parliament. 

After a long debate these terms were declined, but the 
garrison offered to give up any Roman Catholics within the 
walls. "Whereupon," says Waller, "the next day our battery 
played, but our cannoneers overshot the towne extremely." 
A report reached the city that Prince Rupert was ap- 

1 This account of the siege is taken from Waller's own account as 
given in a letter to the Earl of Essex, preserved by Vicars, Jehoveh- 
Jirah, pp. 234-240. 



THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 53 

preaching, which encouraged the garrison, but also prob- 
ably hastened the operations of the besiegers. On the 
following day Waller brought his guns nearer to the town. 
The suburbs of the west gate were occupied after a fierce 
struggle, but the burning with wild-fire of certain houses 
by the garrison obliged the besiegers to retreat. The east 
gate was also cleared by the burning of houses near to it. 
Waller then brought his ordnance to the almshouses 
within half a musket-shot of the north gate, and played 
through the gate into the market-place. Colonel Roberts, 
with fresh troops from Arundel, established his position at 
the south gate; and on the east side of the town the 
besieged on the walls were galled by a firing kept up from 
the church of St. Pancras outside. It was now the sixth day 
of the siege, and Waller was preparing to make a simul- 
taneous attack upon the east and west, and also " to petard 
a back gate that issued out of the Deanery through the 
town wall into the fields, and was walled up by a single 
brick thick." But at ten o'clock at night a trumpet was 
sent out of the city with a request for a parley at nine 
o'clock the next morning, which was granted. 

At the time appointed Sir William Balnidine and 
Captain Wolfe were sent from the garrison to treat for a 
surrender. Waller now declined to grant any more favour- 
able terms than " Quarter and with it honourable usage." 
This was refused " not without hot indignation," and the 
besieged prepared to sell their lives dearly, and Waller " to 
proceed roundly and speedily with them." But at the last 
moment before the assault, a message was sent out from 
the city asking for a respite until seven the next morning? 
when a surrender on Waller's terms was agreed upon. 
Some of Lord Crawford's Scotch troopers within the city 
opposed the surrender, but it was carried out in the 
afternoon. 

During the eight days of the siege no rain had fallen, 
which greatly assisted the operations of the besiegers, but 



54 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the surrender of the city was immediately followed by 
"continual incessant showers." The Puritan chroniclers 
saw in this " the good hand of Providence," and also noted 
with exultation that the surrender took place at the very 
moment of the monthly fast. Parliament had passed an 
Ordinance on 22nd August for a solemn fast to be kept on 
the last Wednesday of every month, the observance of 
which served as a ready test of political leanings ; and a 
pretty severe test it was, for Clarendon tells us that it 
was " observed for eight or ten hours together in the 
churches." l 

Waller's first care was " to release and fully set at 
libertie all the honest men of the towne whom they had 
imprisoned, who being thus enlarged, we employed in 
places of trust in the city." The great body of the towns- 
folk was probably throughout on the Parliamentary side, 
and unwilling to take part in the defence of the city. 
Clarendon attributes the surrender to this cause, and to the 
disaffection of " the common people of the county, out of 
which soldiers were to rise ; . . . their number of common 
men was so small that the constant duty was performed 
by the officers and gentlemen of quality, who were abso- 
lutely tired out." And in order to suppress active opposi- 
tion within the city, Sir Edward Ford had doubtless found 
it necessary to keep the leading Puritans under lock 
and key. 

"In the evening," says Waller, " I discovered a train laid 
of some barrels of gun-powder not farre from my lodging, 
whereupon search being diligently made, I apprehended 
the gunner that was suspected, but he would confess 
nothing, and all the gentlemen being questioned about it, 
utterly disclaimed it." The next business was to deal with 
the prisoners. Of these there were "fifty or three-score 
gentlemen of quality and officers of name," comprising 

1 S. A. C., v, 32. 



THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 55 

seventeen captains, thirteen lieutenants, and eight ensigns, 1 
who were for the most part Scotsmen " with all their 
brave horses, which were dainty ones indeed." 2 About 
400 " excellent dragoneers " and three or four hundred 
infantry laid down their arms. By order of Parliament the 
prisoners were sent to London, the humbler captives being 
despatched by sea. 

Many of the leading Royalist gentry of Sussex fell into 
Waller's hands. Chief among them were Sir Edward Ford, 
the High Sheriff, with his father, Sir William Ford, of Up 
Park. Ford was a man of some ability, as his subsequent 
career evidenced; but he seems to have excelled neither 
in strategy nor in tactics, and much of the disaster which 
now overtook his friends and associates was due to his 
ill-advised initiative. Ford was immediately sent up to 
London, but was soon released through the influence of his 
wife, Sarah, who was a sister of the Parliamentary General 
Ireton; and before a year had passed he was again in arms 
for the King. 

Most of the gentry and some of the Cathedral clergy were 
dealt with in the following year by the Commissioners 
appointed to sequestrate Royalist estates, but some were 
fined comparatively small sums by Waller immediately. 
The gentry included Sir William Morley of Halnaker, and 
his nephew, Sir John Morley, of Brooms in the manor .of 
Chilgrove, West Dean. Sir John Morley seems to have 
found some means to ingratiate himself with Sir William 
Waller, perhaps the payment of a fine of .300. He had 
a protection order, signed by Waller, on nth January 
1642-3, specifying that his house in South Street, Chi- 
chester, had been searched for arms, etc., and enjoining 
" that no person do presume to enter therein, for search, 
etc., or plunder the plate, goods or effects " of Sir John, 
Dame Katherine, his mother, Dame Mary, his wife, his 

1 Clarendon, vi, 236. 2 Vicars, loc, cit. 



56 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

children or servants, he " having largely contributed to the 
service of the King and parliament, and standing well 
affected to them both." l 

Others were Sir Thomas Bowyer of Leythorn in North 
Mundham, created a Baronet in 1634; Thomas May of 
Rawmere in Mid Lavant ; Christopher Lewknor, the recorder 
and member for Chichester, recently expelled, a member 
of the well-known Lewknor family of West Dean; John 
Covert of Slaugham ; Thomas and George Counter, cousins, 
of Racton, who subsequently took a leading part in assist- 
ing Charles II on his journey to Brighthelmstone after the 
battle of Worcester; Thomas Counter was now fined 
100. 

The Cathedral clergy suffered severely. They were not 
only deprived of the emoluments of their offices, but in 
many cases were fined as well. Chief among them was the 
Bishop, Dr. Henry King, " a proud Prelate, as all the rest 
are, and a most pragmaticall malignant against the Parlia- 
ment, as all his cater-capt companions are." 2 He was al- 
lowed to retire to the residence of his brother-in-law, Sir 
Richard Hobart, in Buckinghamshire, where he remained 
in seclusion until the Restoration. He then resumed his 
see and the rich benefice of Petworth. 3 It is rather curious 
that according to Wood * " he was puritanically affected, and 
therefore to please the puritans he was promoted to the 
See of Chichester." But doubtless in the prevailing rage 
against bishops no distinction of High and Low Church 
was drawn. The bishop's palace, with the manor of the 
Broyll and its demesnes, was sold to Colonel John Downes 
for the sum of 1,309 6s. s 

1 Royalist Composition Papers, vol. A, 103, p. 113. S. A. C., xix, 
104. 

2 Vicars, Jehoveh-Jirah, loc. cit. 

3 Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 117. 

4 Athenae Oxonienses, iii, 841. 

5 Dallaway, Chichester, p. 32, on the authority of MSS. Lambeth, 
No. 951, entitled Lambeth Papers, No. u. 



THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 57 

The Dean, Dr. Bruno Reeves, was fined 120, and many 
of the Canons suffered severely. One John Gregory, the 
Prebendary of Bracklesham, a great Oriental scholar, and 
a friend of Selden's, was so reduced as to die in obscure 
poverty at an alehouse in I646. 1 

It is sad to relate that irreparable damage was done to 
the Cathedral by the victorious soldiery, whom Waller was 
either powerless or unwilling to restrain. His officer, Sir 
Arthur Haselrig, took part in, and even appears to have 
instigated these disgraceful proceedings, of which a full 
account has come down to us from the pen of Dr. Reeves, 
the Dean. This account, which is instinct with a mordant 
humour, is as follows: 2 

" The rebels under the conduct of Sir William Waller, 
entering the City of Chichester on Innocents Day 1642, the 
next day their first business was to plunder the Cathedral 
Church. The Marshal therefore and some others, having 
entered the Church, went into the Vestry; there they seize 
up the vestments and ornaments of the church, together 
with the consecrated plate serving for the altar and ad- 
ministration of the Lord's Supper ; they left not so much as 
a cushion for the pulpit, nor a chalice for the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. The Commanders having in person executed the 
covetous part of sacrilege, they leave the destructive and 
spoiling part to be finished by the common soldiers : [who] 
brake down the organs, and dashing the pipes with their 
pole-axes, scoffingly said ' Hark how the organs go.' They 
brake the rail about the Communion Table, which was done 
with that fury, that the Table itself escaped not their mad- 
ness, but tasted of the same fate with the rail, and was 
broken in pieces by them. At the east end of the Choir 
did hang a very fair Table, wherein were written the Ten 
Commandments, with the pictures of Moses and Aaron on 

1 S. A. C., v, 52. 

2 Mercurius Rusticus, or the Countrie's Complaint, Oxford, 1646, 
p. 223. 



58 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

each side of the Table. Possessed with a zeal, but not like 
that of Moses, they pull down the Table, and break it into 
small shivers. 'Twas no wonder that they should break the 
Commandments in their representation, that had before 
broken them all over in their substance and sanction. They 
force open all the locks, either of doors or desks wherein 
the singing-men laid their Common-Prayer-books, their 
singing books, their gown and surplices; they rent the 
books in pieces, and scatter the torn leaves all over the 
Church, even to the covering of the pavement ; but against 
the gowns and surplices their anger was not so hot ; these 
were not amongst the anathemata, but might be reserved 
to secular uses. 

" In the south cross-aisle, on the one side, the history of 
the Church's foundation was very artificially portrayed with 
the pictures of the Kings of England; on the other side 
over against them, are the pictures of the Bishops, as well 
of Selsey as of Chichester, begun by Robert Sherborn, the 
thirty-seventh Bishop of that see, and the series brought 
down to his own time at his own charges ; who as he made that 
of the Psalmist, Dilexi decorem domus tut domine ' Lord I 
have loved the beauty of thy house' his impress and 
motto, so he made it his work and endeavour. These 
monuments they deface and mangle with their hands and 
swords, as high as they could reach ; and to show their love 
and zeal to the Protestant religion, established in the 
Church of England, one of those miscreants picked out the 
eyes of King Edward the Sixth's picture, saying ' That all 
this mischief came from him when he established the Book 
of Common-prayer.' 

" On the Tuesday following they had a solemn thanks- 
giving for their success in gaining that city. Men of cauter- 
ized consciences, and given up to a reprobate sense, thus 
not only to take the name of God in vain, but damnably to 
blaspheme it, as if He were the patron of rapine, blood and 
sacrilege. After the sermon was ended, as men not inspired 



THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 59 

by the holy spirit, of which they so much boast, but pos- 
sessed and transported by a Bacchanalian fury, they ran up 
and down the church with their swords drawn defacing the 
monuments of the dead, hacking and hewing the seats and 
stalls, scratching and scraping the painted walls; Sir Wil- 
liam Waller and the rest of the commanders standing by 
as spectators and approvers of these barbarous impieties ; 
yet for fear lest in this schismatical frenzy the sword in mad 
men's hands might mistake, Sir William Waller, a wary 
man as he is, and well known not to be too apt to expose 
himself to danger, stood all the while with his sword drawn, 
and being asked by one of his troopers what he meant to 
stand in that posture, he answered that it was to secure 
himself. You know 'tis written ' The wicked are afraid 
where no fear is,' for though the people made him an idol 
in London, yet being no popish, but a puritanical idol (for 
they have their idols and their idolatry, as much as the 
Church of Rome) there was no danger to his person, to be 

mistaken for an object of their Reformation at Chichester 

" Having therefore made what spoil they could in the 
Cathedral, they rush out thence and break open a parish 
church, standing on the north side of the cathedral, called 
the sub-deanery; there they did teare the Common-prayer- 
books; and because many things in the Holy Bible made 
strongly against them, and did contradict and condemn 
their impious practices, they marked it in divers places 
with a black coal. Here they stole the minister's surplice 
and hood, and all the linen serving for the communion ; and 
finding no more plate but the challice, they steal that too, 
which they brake in pieces, to make a just and equal 
divident amongst themselves; for an engineer of theirs, 
Robert Prince, a Frenchman, with a wooden leg, afterwards 
showed the foot thereof broken off; and when complaint 
was made of these barbarous outrages, Captain Keely re- 
plied, that he knew not whether all this were not done by 
order or no. 



6o SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

" About five or six days after, Sir Arthur Haselrig 
demanded the keys of the Chapter-house; being entered 
the place and having intelligence by a treacherous officer 
of the Church, where the remainder of the church-plate was, 
he commanded his servants to break down the wainscot 
round about the room, which was quickly done, they hav- 
ing brought crows of iron for that purpose along with them. 
While they were knocking down the wainscot, Sir Arthur's 
tongue was not enough to express his joy; it was operative 
at his heeles, for dancing and skipping, (pray mark what 
music that is to which it is lawful for a Puritan to dance) 
he cried out ' There, boys : there, boys ; heark, heark, it 
rattles, it rattles'; and being much importuned by some 
members of that church to leave the church but a cup for 
administration of the Blessed Sacrament, answer was re- 
turned by a Scotchman standing by that they should take 
a wooden dish. And now tell me which was farthest from 
a Christian, either this impure Scot, or that blasphemous 
atheist, who seeing the massy plate and rich ornaments 
wherewith the Christian altars were adorned in the primit- 
ive church, in indignation and scorn belched out En quam 
preciosis vasis filius Mariae ministratur ' Behold with what 
costly vessels the Son of Mary is served.' What further 
spoil and indignity they have since done to that house of 
God, and 'the habitation where His honour dwelt' is yet 
uncertain." 

Such is the indignant Dean's account of these indecent 
outrages, and with every allowance for partisan exaggera- 
tion, there is no reason to believe that it is not substantially 
true. 

Sir Arthur Haselrig was certainly the scourge of the city. 
It is said that he again visited it in 1647, on the invitation 
of Mr. William Cawley, to finish the work of destruction 
which it was alleged had been left incomplete, and that 
finish it he did. 1 

1 S. A. C., v, 44. I can find no authority for this story, which has 



THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 61 

The paucity of ancient records possessed by the Cathe- 
dral of Chichester is generally attributed to the destruction 
of the muniments of the see by Waller's soldiery. But 
there is some evidence that they had been lost before, per- 
haps during the negligent rule of Dean William Thorne, 
the Orientalist. Among the questions asked at the Bishop's 
visitation of 1616 is the following: "What is become of the 
Copes, Monuments and Vestments of your church? By 
whose default principally are your evidences wanting and 
lost?" 1 

Apart from wilful damage, no due care was taken of the 
Cathedral library. Years afterwards, in 1651, the County 
Committee for Sussex wrote to the Committee for Com- 
pounding: "There are in the Deanery House in Chichester 
a considerable number of books, long since sequestered by 
the former committee from the late bishop, dean, and 
chapter, and other delinquents, which belonged to the 
Cathedral. If you approve, a waggon should be hired to 
bring them up to London, so as to have them appraised and 
sold for the use of the state, as they have received much 
damage, and will do still more by lying where they are." 
The reply was that the books were to remain at the dean- 
ery to be inventoried and appraised there, and the certifi- 
cate sent up.* 

Damage to the Cathedral was not the only loss sustained 
by Chichester from the siege. The industry of needle- 
making had long been established there, and the town is 
stated to have monopolized the trade of England in needles 
during the early part of the seventeenth century. 3 The 
manufacture was carried on chiefly in the parish of St. Pan- 
eras, without the east gate, and at the time of the siege 

apparently been copied by later writers Dallaway, Blaauw, and 
Godwin from Hay's History of Chichester, p. 344. 

1 Hist. MSS. Com., Various Collections, 1901, pp. 188, 201. 

2 Cal. Com. for Compounding, p. 470. 

3 Hay, History of Chichester, p. 366. 



62 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

almost every house in the parish was occupied by a needle- 
maker. From the registers it appears that an almost com- 
plete demolition of houses took place; l the entries relating 
to a numerous population are followed by a hiatus, and 
thereafter the re-erection of houses seems to have proceeded 
slowly. The industry received a blow from which it never 
recovered. The production of cheaper, if inferior, needles 
in the manufacturing towns of the north no doubt completed 
its destruction. 

This industry was perhaps one of those brought from the 
Continent by immigrants and refugees, with whom the 
coast towns abounded. Many of these were regarded as 
undesirable aliens, not only because from their poverty they 
were liable to become a burden to the parish "to the 
great cry and grief of the inhabitants of Rye and other 
places about the same " but because of their competition 
with established traders. But in spite of all restrictions 
numerous Frenchmen and Flemings became domiciled in 
the Sussex ports, as the names of their descendants bear 
witness. And as has happened throughout our history, 
these strangers brought with them a knowledge of trades 
and handicrafts in which the English were not previously 
proficient. Among foreigners resident at Rye in the reign 
of Elizabeth were Bonaventure Dusseville, a bookbinder, 
John Frottier, a locksmith, and Pierre Sommellier, a clock- 
maker. 2 Fas est et ab hoste doceri. There were as yet no 
Jews; they had to wait for the tolerance of Cromwell. 

Chichester was held by the Parliament as a garrison 
town until 2nd March 1646, when it was decided to dis- 
garrison it, and the ordnance was transferred to Arundel. 3 
Waller left it in the hands of Colonel Anthony Stapley of 
Framfield and Patcham, Member of Parliament for the 
county, and his appointment as governor was subsequently 

1 S. A. C., xxii, 223. 

2 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 6. 

3 S. A. C, v, 53. 



THE SIEGE OF CHICHESTER 63 

confirmed by Parliament. He seems to have been ill- 
provided with funds, as on i8th November 1643 we find 
him writing somewhat peremptorily to the Speaker, William 
Lenthall, in acknowledgement of his letter of the i6th, 
directing that the rents and estate of Sir William Morley 
were not to be taken, "if you please to discharge this 
estate or any other and not to provide otherwise to pay 
these men under my command, you will, I hope give me 
leave to provide myself and men as I can, and to quit the 
employment, when I cannot longer serve you in it" l 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 156. 



T 



CHAPTER V 

THE ROYALIST INVASION 
HE calm which followed Waller's capture of Chiches- 



ter lasted through the greater part of 1643. The two 
most powerful men in Sussex were now Colonel Anthony 
Stapley, Governor of Chichester, and Colonel Herbert 
Morley. The common people, if they had no enthusiasm 
for the King's cause, felt little for the Parliament's. Re- 
cruiting was unpopular, and money, except from the 
sequestration of the estates of Royalists, was as difficult to 
obtain as men. On 23rd May Colonel Morley wrote to 
the Speaker concerning a riot at West Hoathly fair, when 
Ancient Streater was beating for volunteers, in which the 
Ancient was badly hurt, and the head of his drum 
beaten in. 1 

The seaport towns probably did a thriving business in 
carrying passengers and despatches secretly to and from 
the Continent. In another letter of Colonel Morley's to 
the Speaker, dated Lewes, 24th April 1643, he says: 
" About three weeks since the Earl of Thanet passed the 
seas into France. The barque that carried him belongs to 
one Hayne of Brighthelmstone, which I have made stay of 
till I receive your pleasure, for I conceive it no small crime 
to transport those that have made war against the Parlia- 
ment without your warrant. Friday last a party of my 
horse took one of my Lord Montague's servants, that was 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 709. 
64 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 65 

ready to take barque for France. About him they found 
divers letters and scandalous pamphlets against the Parlia- 
ment I opened some of the letters, but finding the en- 
closed directed to himself and his lady, I send them to 
you sealed as I found them." 1 

It would appear also that although the Sussex ports 
were all held for the Parliament, a certain trade was done 
from some of them in supplies for the Royalist forces. On 
2/th September 1643 Captain Tristram Stevens wrote to 
the committee at Portsmouth from aboard his ship the 
Charles, that a Frenchman, one Jerome, had arrived at 
Weymouth from Newhaven with 100 barrels of powder 
and other arms and ammunition for the garrison there, 
and urging the employment of one of the Parliament's 
ships to intercept this traffic. 2 Probably the supplies came 
originally from Dieppe. A reference to this traffic is to be 
found among the papers of the Corporation of Rye. 

On loth June 1644 the Mayor wrote to the Earl of 
Warwick, Lord High Admiral : " We have thought it our 
duty to signify unto you that our town of Rye being the 
ordinary passage for Dieppe, where divers merchants of 
London and their goods, merchant strangers and othti 
passengers do weekly pass from hence thither, which brings 
in a considerable sum of money to the State for customs 
and excise, lately a barque of our town was surprised by 
one of the King's men-of-war of Weymouth, which had in 
her 3,000 worth of goods, and persons of quality, two of 
them Mr. Arundel's sons, a member of the House of Com- 
mons, and Colonel Browne's son and heir, and divers mer- 
chants of good worth. We beseech your Lordship to take 
this into your consideration and that you will be pleased 
to appoint a small man of war for the safety of our passage 
barques to lie between our town and Dieppe Road, which 
will do good service for the State, for there is store of 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, in. 2 Ibid., i, 131. 

F 



66 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

ammunition weekly shipped from Dieppe for Weymouth 
by one Pinozeire." l 

But the prevailing peace in Sussex had been brought 
about by the presence of Waller's army, and its withdrawal 
was the signal for fresh Royalist endeavours. The irrepress- 
ible Sir Edward Ford was soon at work again. On 3rd 
August Sir Thomas Pelham and other justices informed 
the Speaker that Mr. Thomas Cotton, a dangerous papist, 
had that day been brought before them. They enclosed 
the warrant found in his saddle which would clearly desig- 
nate the nature of his employment. By this and many 
other pregnant circumstances they were very sensible of 
their more than approaching danger, which to prevent they 
would be willing to apply their utmost industry, but being 
conscious of their inability to stand of themselves, they 
humbly addressed themselves to the House, craving advice 
and assistance, and that London and the adjacent counties 
might associate with them for mutual defence. The en- 
closure was a warrant dated Oxford, igth July, from Sir 
Edward Ford, High Sheriff of Sussex, to his kinsman 
Thomas Cotton, authorizing him to persuade the well- 
affected in Sussex and the parts adjacent, to contribute 
horses, arms, plate, or money for his Majesty's service, and 
to receive and give acquittances for such contributions " that 
I may more clearly distinguish the well-affected from 
cordial traitors and penurious neuters." 2 

The danger to the Parliamentary cause was a very real 
one. Colonel Morley was at Farnham on i6th September 
and informed the Speaker that he had received intelli- 
gence that a large Royalist force, consisting of the Earl of 
Crawford and his men, Colonel Ford's, Colonel Bennett's, 
the Sheriff of Wilts', Sir Edward Deering's and Crispe's 
regiments were about to lay siege to Southampton; and 
that the garrison there was not above 300, the soldiers' 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 214. 
, 126. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 67 

pay in arrears, and the town abounding in malignants. He 
feared that unless immediate action was taken, such as 
sending him forthwith 2,000 horse and dragoons, the 
southern counties would all be lost and London itself in 
danger. " This approaching cloud," he said, " may raise a 
storm in Sussex, which county is full of neuters and malig- 
nants ; and I have ever observed neuters to turn malignants 
upon such occasions." 1 This fear of the "neuter," the 
moderate man, who was not a partisan, but for the sake of 
peace was ready to shout with the side that was uppermost, 
continually appears throughout this period. 

The state of Portsmouth was also causing anxiety. On 
28th October Parliament was informed that it was in 
want of a governor, and also of men, money, powder, and 
match. Either Sir Robert Harley or Sir William Erie 
" stopped the relation of such things in the open house, 
' for this is no place to mention the state of Portsmouth 
in, for 'tis likely his Majesty may come to the knowledge 
of it.' " * 

On 4th November a Decree of Association united in the 
cause of the Parliament the counties of Sussex, Kent, Surrey, 
the Isle of Wight, and the town and county of Southampton. 
Sir William Waller was appointed Major-General of the 
Association. He had been mustering troops at Hounslow 
Heath, and now made Farnham his base of operations. 
His army seems to have been very badly equipped. On 
23rd November 1643, William Cawley the Chichester 
brewer, and member for Midhurst, wrote to Speaker 
Lenthall from Farnham, acquainting the House " in what 
extreme sad condition I both hear and find Sir William 
Waller's army proceeding, especially from want of pay, 
whereby they are altogether disabled for the present to 
do the Parliament that service, which if supplied with 
moneys may be expected from them. The soldiers, both 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), i, 130. 

2 Godwin's Civil War in Hampshire, ch. xiii. 



68 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

horse and foot, want clothes, boots, shoes, and almost all 
necessaries for their subsistence, yea their exigency is such 
and so great that when they are commanded upon any 
service be the expedition ever so emergent many of 
them cannot stir for want of money to shoe their horses. 
If speedy course be not taken to supply this so consider- 
able an army with a round sum at least io,ooo/. for a 
small sum will rather discontent than satisfy it's much 
feared by those who best know that a sudden ruin of this 
brigade will inevitably follow. I find Sir William Waller 
very much troubled that he cannot punish the abounding 
vices and enormities of his soldiers for fear of mutinies and 
desertions to which for want of pay they are too apt, which 
not only produces a contempt of their officers, but great 
discontent also to the country, from they are sometimes 
necessitated to take that for their livelihood which the 
people can ill spare." l 

We may judge from this communication, as from his 
previous despatch on the occasion of his flight from 
Chichester to Portsmouth, that Mr. Cawley had a very 
happy turn for letter-writing. 

On the same day Waller wrote to the House to a similar 
effect. He stated that he had presumed to send some 
parties to Godalming and Midhurst to take up some coarse 
cloths, linen, shoes, boots, and stockings for the soldiers, 
and if there might be an assurance given of the payment 
for these commodities, he was confident it would be best 
both for the soldiers and the country. 2 

Waller seems to have been a just and generous com- 
mander. In his "Vindication" he wrote: "And for the 
payment of arrears I may say I was for it to the uttermost 
farthing. I may not say, too, who were against it, but 
those who seemed to be pillars, or somewhat, whatsoever 
they were it maketh no matter to me, contributed nothing, 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 159. 3 Ibid., i, 160. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 69 

nay, gave their flat negative to it. And truly herein I did 
but discharge my conscience, for I was ever of opinion that 
a soldier's pay is the justest debt in the world. For if it be 
a crying sin to keep back the wages of an hireling, that 
doth but sweat for us, it must needs be a roaring altitonant 
sin to detain pay of the soldier that bleeds for us. There is 
a cry of blood in it, and God will make inquisition for it! " 

In answer to Waller's urgent appeal for money the 
House voted an additional sum of 5,000. 2 

If the Parliamentary cause was to be saved in the south- 
eastern counties it was high time that something should 
be done. The Cavaliers of Sussex, says Clarendon, had 
" formed so good an opinion of their own reputation and 
interest that they were able, upon the assistance of few 
troops, to suppress their neighbours who were of the other 
party, and who upon advantage of the power they were 
possessed of, exercised their authority over them with great 
vigour and insolence." 

The Royalists in Kent were also eager to make a move, 
and hoped that Hopton's forces, which were scattered along 
the borders of Hampshire, would be able to join hands with 
them. The position in Sussex therefore became of great 
importance. It was considered on the Parliament's side 
that the state of the roads at this season made the county 
impassable for an army, but the event showed that this was 
not the case. A Cavalier raid on Petworth, the Earl of 
Northumberland's house, had already been made, and the 
raiders had taken thence " twenty brave horse, and carried 
them to Oxford." 3 

On 23rd November 4 there was a fight at South Harting, 

1 Vindication of the Character and Conduct of Sir William Waller, 
Knight, London, 1793. 

2 Commons' Journals, iii, 319, 320. 

3 Scottish Dove, 27th October 1643. 

4 In S. A. C., xxviii, 100, the Rev. H. D. Gordon states that 
Chichester was taken for the King on 22nd November, and recovered 



70 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

a Sussex village on the borders of Hampshire, in which was 
situate Up Park, the residence of Sir William Ford, the 
High Sheriff's father. It seems that on that night about 
" six score of the Earl of Crawford's regiment entered the 
village very far spent with travel, want of sleep, and food, 
and extremely weather-beaten with a rainy stormy night." * 
They were quartered in the village, six of the principal officers 
and a boy being accommodated at the house of " the noble 
knight and brave housekeeper, Sir John Caryll." Within an 
hour Colonel Norton arrived with four hundred Parliament- 
ary dragoons, not knowing till he was within the town that it 
was already occupied, " but having notice thereof he caused 
his men to rank themselves ten and ten, and so to make 
good every door and house of the town that none might 
escape; which being done the rebels cry ' Horse, Horse,' in 
the street, which the King's soldiers mistaking to be the 
call of their own commanders, offered in divers places to 
come forth, but were presently shot and killed, so that see- 
ing no possibility of bringing forth themselves or their 
horses into the street, almost all of them fled by backways 
on foot to save themselves, leaving the rebels outrageously 
domineering in the town." But the tables were completely 
turned by the gallantry of the six officers and the boy 
quartered at Sir John Caryll's house. Mounting their horses 
they rushed out of a back lane upon the dragoons, shouting 
" Follow," " Follow," " Follow," as if they were leading a 
large force. The dragoons fled in disorder leaving some 
half-dozen of their number shot dead by the officers, about 
the same number, says the chronicler, as they had killed of 
the Royalist party. This incident naturally caused much 
delight and amusement in Cavalier circles. The number 
slain is probably exaggerated. The Parish Register of 

by Waller on agth December. He gives no authority for these state- 
ments, and appears to be confusing the proceedings of 1642 with those 
of 1643. 

1 Mercurius Aulicus, loth December 1643. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 71 

South Harting records " there were 3 souldiers buried Nov 1 '. 
2 4 th , 1643." 1 

Those who had relied on the mud of Sussex as a pro- 
tection against invasion were soon undeceived. At the 
beginning of December, taking advantage of a sharp frost, 
Hopton advanced into the county. " The exceeding hard 
frost," says Clarendon, " made his march more easy through 
those deep and dirty ways, than better weather would have 
done, and he came to Arundel before there was any imagin- 
ation that he had that place in prospect." 2 Sir Edward 
Ford was in command of a regiment of horse in Hopton's 
army, and had with him many of the gentlemen of Sussex. 
He had persistently urged the capture of Arundel, " which 
standing near the sea would yield great advantage to the 
King's service, and keep that rich corner of the country at 
his Majesty's devotion." 3 

But Hopton's invasion of Sussex was not a mere hap- 
hazard movement instigated by the importunities of Royal- 
ist gentry. It was, if somewhat belated, part of a great 
plan of campaign, in accordance with which the King's 
forces were to make a triple advance on London ; Hopton 
from the south-west, through Sussex and Surrey, New- 
castle from the north, and the King himself in the centre, 
from Oxford. Hopton's part failed because he was unable 
to advance until too late, and then had no force capable of 
coping with Waller's army; Newcastle, after defeating 
Fairfax at Atherton Moor, was checked by Cromwell's 
victories of Gainsborough and Winceby; the King, after 
his failure to capture Gloucester and to defeat Essex at 
Newbury, abandoned his intended march on London, and 
fell back on Oxford. This was the turning-point of the 
war. The flood of Royalist success was over, and the ebb 
was running strongly. 

Hopton's route was by Petersfield, Harting, and Marden, 

' S. A. C., xxviii, 102. 2 Ibid., viii, 6. 3 Ibid.^ 3. 



72 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

and thence over the downs to Arundel; and in order to 
keep open the line of communication, Petersfield and Hart- 
ing Place were garrisoned. 1 To guard the passes in the hills 
Ford's regiment of horse was quartered at his father's house, 
Up Park, throughout December. 

Before reaching Arundel, Hopton sent a detachment of 
cavalry to attack Lord Lumley's house at Stanstead. 
There seems to have been a sharp fight there, but there is 
much uncertainty as to the details. The Royalist force was 
at first repulsed with loss by a Parliamentary force, prob- 
ably under Colonel Stapley, and a son or brother of 
Endymion Porter, the diplomatist, was sore wounded and 
taken prisoner. But Stanstead shortly after fell into Royal- 
ist hands. It was at that time a castellated building with 
a turreted gateway and a courtyard. 2 Cowdray House, the 
magnificent mansion of Lord Montague, where an almost 
royal state had been kept up, and where Queen Elizabeth 
had been so sumptuously entertained, was taken from the 
Parliamentarians and garrisoned by Hopton, as also was 
Petworth. 

The advance guard of the Royalist force under Sir Ed- 
ward Ford and Sir Edward Bishop arrived before Arundel 
on 6th December. They captured the town and laid siege to 
the castle. " The place," says Clarendon, " in its situation 
was very strong, and though the fortifications were not 
regular but of the old fashion, yet the walls were very 
strong, and the graff broad and deep ; and though the gar- 
rison was not numerous enough to have defended all the 
large circuit against a powerful army, yet it was strong 
enough in all respects to have defied all assaults, and might, 
with putting themselves to any trouble, have been very 
secure against all the attempts of those without. But the 
provisions of victual or ammunition were not sufficient to 
have endured any long restraint ; and the officer who com- 

1 S. A. C., xxviii, 100; Royalist Compositions, ii, 240. 

2 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. xv. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 73 

manded it had not been accustomed to the prospect of an 
enemy." l 

Meantime great alarm was felt by the Parliamentarians 
throughout Sussex. On 7th December the Committee at 
Lewes informed the House of the capture of the town of 
Arundel by Lord Hopton and of the danger in which the 
castle stood. Parliament immediately nominated John 
Baker of Mayfield as High Sheriff of Sussex, and directed 
the gentlemen of the four associated counties to withdraw 
to consider the question of sending relief to Arundel Castle, 
and of clearing the county of Sussex, and to provide for 
the security of that county in the best way they could, and 
to consult with the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Lieu- 
tenant. But for the energetic dispositions of Colonel Herbert 
Morley, " a gentleman of a nimble apprehension and vigil- 
ant spirit," 2 and his subordinate Captain Temple, the 
Royalist forces would certainly have overrun the whole 
county. Temple saw to the " hastening of the works at 
Bramber and Shoreham," and to the manning of them 
when completed. 3 The Mayor and jurats of Rye were 
ordered to despatch six of the biggest and most serviceable 
pieces of ordnance in the town to Shoreham. 4 At the same 
time steps were taken to remove the timber and lead from 
Camber Castle, near Rye; the castle being "soe greatlie 
ruinated and broken that any man may goe in there and 
purloigne and take from thence the tymber and leade." 5 
The corporation complained later that they had received 
no consideration for the 2,000 worth of lead which they 
had saved for the State. Their forwardness had exposed 
them to the very scorn and obloquy of the county. 6 

The efforts of the Parliamentarians in face of the unex- 

1 Clarendon, viii, 6. 

8 Cheynell, Chillingworthi novissima, 1644. 

3 S. A. C., v, 58. 

4 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 213. * Ibid. 
6 Ibid., p. 214. 



74 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

pected rapidity of the Royalist advance have found an un- 
named historian, whom from the internal evidence of his 
manuscripts, 1 we may judge to have been Colonel Edward 
Apsley of Worminghurst, midway between Horsham and 
Arundel, M.P. for Steyning. His account is as follows: 

"Wednesday night, December 6th, Colonel Ford and 
Sir Edward Bishop came to Arundel. About 5 of the 
clock in the morning Mr. Knight came to my house and 
brought the first alarm, whereupon I gave the first alarm 
to this part of the Country. By time it was day, Mr. 
Stanes came to me; finding I had no strength to rely on 
for the company I had formerly made use of was put into 
garrison at Cowdray House, he persuaded me to retire my- 
self either to London or eastward. Upon his reasonable 
persuasions, as I was going to give order to have my 
horses made ready, I saw some twenty or thirty men in my 
hall, standing with their arms as ready for service. Where- 
upon turning to Mr. Stanes I told him that it should never 
be said that I should abandon the country so long as any 
would stand to me, and wished him to move me no farther, 
for I was resolved that hap what hap could. Whereupon 
I gave order to Captain Leighton to exercise those men 
he had. As I was at dinner there came a report of 2000 of 
the enemy coming within two miles, viz., to Chiltington 
Common. I sent out to the men to bid them look to their 
watches, but before I had dined the report was contra- 
dicted. There were spies sent out, whereof one, Mr. Knight's 
man, went into the town, and there lost me a man, but 
very honestly returned, and brought certain intelligence of 
the enemy. 

"So soon as it was dark, I took horse and rode to Horsham, 
and sending for Mr. Shephard and some other gentlemen 
of the town, I inquired what strength they could make. 
They told me they thought 200. We resolved that they 

1 S. A. C., v, 57-9. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 75 

should come to my house the next day. I took horse again 
and with the help of Sir Thomas Siffield's guide, got to 
Bramber by sunrise. There and at Shoreham I found 
Captain Temple, Captain Carleton, Captain Surrenden, 
and Captain Fuller; before night Colonel Morley came to 
us also from Lewes. Captain Morley l had sent him that 
had been employed as a spy with a letter to me to have a 
rendezvous appointed, for there were 200 foot and 120 
horse assembled, and to let me know that Sir E. Bishop 
had driven away all my sheep. It was agreed the rendezvous 
to be at Cobden Hill by 12 of the clock. Next day 
between one and two Colonel Morley, Captain Temple and 
myself came to them with 200 dragoons, under Captain 
Carleton and Captain Surrenden. Captain Temple took 
order to hasten the works at Bramber and Shoreham by 
the pioneers, and Captain Fuller and his company to man 
them. 

"Upon the information of the spy, Colonel Morley, Captain 
Temple and the rest of the council of war resolved to fall 
into Arundel, or if we were hindered of that by the break- 
ing of the bridge by the enemy, to draw a breast-work at 
the head of the causeway, and so block them up at least on 
that side. Hereupon we drew the forces into several bodies. 
Now my Lord Hopton came into the town since my spy's 
coming out. Upon this resolution, we marched in our 
several divisions for Parham Park, and intended for 
Arundel we took the word ' God with us.' 

"The day was misty, especially on those high hills; so was 
the night; only now and then upon a gale of wind the mist 
brake up. In our march, false intelligence was given that 
the enemy had laid Houghton Bridge ; it was then thought 
not fit to engage the body in those narrow ways from 
Parham Ash to Arundel in the night, till we knew whether 
the bridge were laid or no, doubting that the enemy had 

1 Colonel Herbert Morley's younger brother, William. 



76 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

notice of our advance, and so might distress us in the way. 
Whereupon by the advice of the council of war, the forlorn 
hope was turned into a party, and sent, commanded by 
Lieutenant Burton, to see whether the bridge was laid or 
no. Before the party could return to the body, the light of 
the moon (which have much assisted us in the bottoms 
where the mist was not so thick, and the ways very narrow) 
would be so far spent, that it was not possible for the foot 
to march to Arundel, whereupon they were sent to quarter 
at Parham, with whom I was going till stayed by Colonel 
Morley. The horse were kept upon the hill to get intelli- 
gence of the enemy, and to do service upon their quarters, if 
we could find them out. 

" Colonel Morley and myself with some others rode out 
upon the hills to discover the country and to see what 
became of the party sent out. In our absence the horsemen 
unbitted their horses, and turned them into a load of hay 
which they had taken from the cows. In our return there 
was one musket shot off, and some dags 1 that sparkled fire 
much like a match lighted with gunpowder. This was a 
party of the enemy upon our body, unsuspected by us. 
Colonel Morley was told it was not well to lie so openly; 
he said he would close them ; one replied that they thought 
if he did but speak to them, it was enough. He rode 
towards them, and I rode on softly upon the way, till meet- 
ing this party of the enemy coming up from our own body, 
out of any road, taking it to be a party of our own, for the 
mist fell thick that I could not discern my horse length. I 
rode to them; they said, 'who are you?' I said, 'a friend'; 
they said, 'who are you for?' I replied, 'what! do you not 
know me?' and gave them the word, ' God with us.' They 
asked me again, ' who are you for? ' I returned the word 
again angrily, doubting that they might not know the word. 
With that, one of them caught hold of my horse, another 

1 Pistols. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 77 

of my sword, and asked, ' who I was for? ' I said, ' for king 
and parliament ' ; and laying my hand upon my sword, they 
pulled and brake it. A third came up and caught hold of 
my rocket coat, and threw it over my head, when divers 
with their drawn swords rode about me, pulling by my coat 
that was about my head. I told the properest man that I 
could spy (this man I understood to be called Mr. Montague) 
that I was his prisoner. He replied that none should wrong 
me, but before they would let go my horse, caused me pre- 
sently to alight. They took my coat and gloves, and told 
me they should search my pockets. I replied they should 
not need, for there was money for them, and so gave the 
silver that I had in that pocket, some to one, some to 
another, wherefore the one would not let the other rifle 
me; whereby I had the opportunity to convey away Sir 
William Waller's letters, and the Committee's, which I had 
then about me, and left a little money for myself. 

" Mr. Montague gat upon my horse, and told me that I 
should get upon his. This was a poor tired jade. I was 
long ere I got up. They held their pistols to me, and said, 
1 shoot him, shoot him.' I pulling the saddle on my side, 
turned my breast to their pistols, and said, ' Why ! shoot me 
then ! for I cannot get up.' Then said one, ' Why do you 
not alight and help him up?' With that one alighted and 
helped me up. This I did delay, expecting relief. They 
asked how strong we were. I told them between 300 and 
400. This was true but the rest I concealed, namely, that 
our men were unbitted and out of order, and unable to 
make any resistance. The fear of their number, the not 
knowing their disorder, caused the enemy to haste away 
almost in like disorder." 

What happened to the writer of this interesting story 
does not appear, as his manuscript ends here. Probably he 
was taken to Arundel as a prisoner. Meantime the castle 
had fallen. On the third day after Lord Hopton's arrival 
he sent in a message threatening severe measures in case 



78 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

he was driven to assault it, and the officer in command, 
Captain Capcot, seeing that further resistance was hopeless, 
surrendered. 1 Colonel Morley, having found it impossible 
to relieve Arundel or to hold Houghton Bridge, fell back 
on the Adur. Here Temple successfully defended Bramber 
Castle against a Royalist attack. Of this affair the voluble 
Puritan divine, Dr. Cheynell, says: "Upon the I2th of 
December I visited a brave soldier of my acquaintance, 
Captain James Temple, who did that day defend the fort 
of Bramber against a bold and daring enemy to the wonder 
of all the country ; and I did not marvel at it, for he is a 
man that hath his head full of stratagems, his heart full of 
piety and valour, and his hand as full of success as it is of 
dexterity." * 

Another skirmish took place a little later at Bramber 
Bridge, as related in the very interesting letters of the Rev. 
John Coulton, Chaplain in the Parliamentary Army, to his 
" most dear loving and kind friend and brother in Jesus 
Christ," Mr. Samuel Jeake of Rye. 3 Mr. Coulton describes 
his personal experiences with the force hastily raised for 
the defence of East Sussex. " That Saturday I came from 

1 Mercurius Civicus, No. 29, December 7 to 14, 1643. 

2 Cheynell, Chillingworthi novissima. 

3 S. A. C., ix, 51. Samuel Jeake of Rye was at this time only twenty 
years of age. The Parish Register of Rye contains the entry: " 1623, 
Oct 12, Sammewell, son of Henry Jake." The Jeakes were a family 
of Huguenot origin, their name being doubtless derived from Jacques. 
At first a notary-public, and afterwards an attorney, he was also a 
most laborious student and a prolific writer. His most important work 
was " The Charters of the Cinque-Ports, two Ancient Towns (Rye and 
Winchelsea), and their Members, translated into English, with anno- 
tations historical and critical thereon." An active Puritan, and a 
preacher, he suffered persecution for nonconformity in Charles II's 
reign, and was excommunicated. He died in 1690. " Upon the whole," 
says Mr. Lower, " Sussex has produced few men more remarkable 
than the elder Samuel Jeake. He was a man of capacious intellect, a 
sound lawyer and municipal antiquary, and good mathematician and 
a student of every branch of human knowledge " (Worthies of Sussex, 
p. 125). See S. A. C., xiii, 60. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 79 

Rye, I marched to Robert Rolfe's house at Mayfield, where 
I quartered all night ; the next day we marched to Port- 
slade. On Christmas day we came to Shoreham, and 
about eleven o'clock Sergeant Rolfe shot off a carbine and 
withal his thumb. I stayed with him all Tuesday and saw 
him in good posture, and so I went to my colours." He 
found his regiment at Arundel, and with it executed some 
scouting operations, and discovered Hopton at Petersfield. 
" The return of us was the next day about ten o'clock ; 
ourselves and horse had no meat but a piece of bread and 
cheese, and our horses, while we ate it, had hay not half an 
hour's time; prize your fireside comforts, you know not the 
hardships of war; nay, though it be in a flowing county 
as is Sussex. . . . The enemy attempted Bramber bridge, 
but our brave Carleton and Everden with his dragoons, 
and our Colonel's horse welcomed them with drakes and 
muskets, sending some eight or nine men to hell (I fear), 
and one trooper to Arundel Castle prisoner, and one of 
Captain Everden's dragoons to heaven, all this while the 
enemy held the castle, and a party seized Wiston house 
within a mile of Bramber bridge." 

The Captain Carleton here mentioned was a son of Dr. 
Carleton, Bishop of Chichester, 1619-1628. He is described 
by Cheynell l as " the anti-prelatical son of a learned 
prelate, a man of bold presence, and fixed resolution, who 
loves his country better than his life." Captain Everden 
was, according to the same authority, " a man of slow 
speech but sure performance, who deserves that motto of 
the old Roman : Non tarn facile loquor, quam quod locutus 
sum praesto" 

But although a Royalist advance east of the Adur was 
prevented, the prospects of the Parliamentary party looked 
black. Their only hope lay in the intervention of Waller, 
and he was known to be in difficulties. It is not surprising 

1 Chillingworthi novissima. 



8o SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

that one at least of the Parliamentary leaders should seem 
to have thought it advisable to curry favour with the other 
side. In August 1644 articles were formulated against 
Thomas Middleton, M.P. for Horsham, and one of the 
Committee for Sussex, alleging that in the previous Dec- 
ember, when the King's forces invaded Sussex, pretending 
himself to be sick, he would not in any way show himself 
against the King's forces, but discouraged the countrymen 
that took up arms for the Parliament when the King's 
forces were within a few miles of Horsham, and that he was 
in all probability consenting to the bringing of some of the 
King's forces to take Horsham. 1 

Middleton, who resided at Hills Place, seems to have 
been absolved from this accusation, but he was arrested in 
1648 on a charge of being concerned in the rising which 
took place at Horsham in that year. A somewhat ridiculous 
incident of an earlier date is related, in which he was the 
involuntary cause of alarming all London. The report of 
a plot was reading in the House of Commons (May 1641) 
when some members in the gallery stood up, the better to 
hear the report, and Middleton and Mr. Moyle, of Cornwall, 
" two persons of good bigness, weighed down a board in the 
gallery which gave so great a crack, that some members 
thought it was a plot indeed," and an alarm of fire, and of 
a malignant conspiracy, spread rapidly over the town, so 
that a regiment of trained bands was collected in the City 
upon beat of drum, and marched as far as Covent Garden 
to meet these imaginary evils. 2 

But while West Sussex was falling into Royalist^ hands, 
and East Sussex was with difficulty defending its border, 
the reports of Royalist successes were affording the stimulus 
which was wanted to induce the House to make due pro- 
vision for Waller's army. Early in December Waller went 
to London " to be feasted and lectured," but he seems to 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 183. 

2 Rush worth, v, 744 ; S. A. C., v, 87. 



THE ROYALIST INVASION 81 

have done the lecturing himself, and to some effect. 
" Waller's journey to London answered his expectation, 
and his presence had an extraordinary operation to procure 
anything desired. He reported the Lord Hopton's forces 
to be much greater than they were, that his own might be 
made proportionable to encounter them; and the quick 
progress he had made in Sussex, and his taking Arundel 
Castle, made them thought to be greater than he reported 
them to be. His so easily possessing himself of a place of 
that strength, which they supposed to have been impreg- 
nable, and in a county where the King had before no 
footing, awakened all their jealousies and apprehensions of 
the affections of Kent and all other places, and looked 
like a land-flood, that might roll they knew not how far; so 
that there needed no importunate solicitation to provide a 
remedy against this growing evil." 1 

The House requested the City of London to allow " the 
longer stay of their forces," which were to have been 
withdrawn, and 500 men were sent to Farnham from 
the Windsor garrison. Waggons went from London laden 
with ammunition, and with leather pieces of ordnance, 
lately invented by Colonel Wems, General of Ordnance 
and Train. " These leather pieces are of very great use, 
and very easy and light of carriage. One horse may draw 
a piece, which will carry a bullet of a pound and half 
weight and do execution very far." 2 

1 Clarendon, viii, 9. 3 True Informer, gth December 1643. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 

AFTER a successful attack on Alton, 1 in which he 
took several hundred prisoners, including numerous 
Irish, Waller marched out of Farnham on the afternoon of 
Sunday, i/th December, to meet the victorious Royalists 
in Sussex. It will be remembered that they were, in 
addition to smaller positions, in occupation of the great 
houses of Petworth, Cowdray, and Stanstead, and of the 
Castle of Arundel. The frost was still holding, and Waller 
was able to move with extraordinary rapidity. Occupying 
Haslemere on Sunday night, he " wheeled about " towards 
Midhurst on Monday morning in hope of surprising the 
garrison at Cowdray, consisting, as he says in his des- 
patches, of four troops of cavalry and 100 infantry. He 
sent two regiments of cavalry to block up the various 
roads in the neighbourhood, but the Royalists were " too 
nimble" for him, and escaped to Arundel. An officer of 
his force wrote a letter, published at the time, 2 which well 
describes his subsequent proceedings : " [Cowdray] house 
is now possessed by the Parliament forces where we stayed 
that night, and furnished the said castle (for indeed it may 
well be called so in regard of the strength thereof) with all 
necessaries for defence to awe the Papists and malignants, 
wherewith the said town is much infested and infected. 
Tuesday morning we marched from Midhurst, sending out 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, ccccxcviii, 76. 

2 Mercurius Civicus, 2ist December 1643. 

82 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 83 

a party of horse to Petworth, having thought to surprise 
the enemy there, but they fled before our success, Hopton 
and the great ones to Winchester and the rest to Arundel 
with bag and baggage." 

Cowdray seems to have been stripped of its contents, 
which were doubtless of great value. In the Journals of 
the House of Commons are the following entries: 

" ist April 1644. Ordered, that Capt. Higgons do 
forthwith send up the plate, treasure, and other goods found 
in the Lord Montague's house. 

" i8M May 1644. Ordered, that the goods brought up 
from Cowdray House in Sussex, by order of this House, 
be forthwith stored up in the stores at Camden House. 

" 6th June 1 644. Ordered, that the goods that are brought 
up, which were seized at the Lord Montague's house in 
Sussex, and particularly those goods remaining at " The 
Talbot," in Southwark, in Captain Higgons's custody, be 
carried into Camden House, and all the said goods be 
there sold to the best value." * 

But these operations by the way caused little check to 
the rapidity of Waller's advance. He appeared before 
Arundel on the evening of Tuesday, the I9th, and the army 
lay that night " on a heath within a mile of the town." 2 

1 "There was a constant stream of traffic in carts laden with goods 
seized in the counties and conveyed to the Guildhall in London, where 
the sale of these effects took place. These sales made a rare harvest 
for the dealers, who bought up valuable heirlooms ' dirt cheap.' The 
goods were ' sold by the candle,' and some of the more crafty ones got 
near enough the elbow of the auctioneer to control the flame. A large 
buyer named Fletcher was accused that he stood ' so near the candle 
that it goes out at the casting up of his hand, or the wind of his mouth 
at his last bidding, when others would have bidden more.' The refer- 
ence is of course to the old fashion of burning a piece of candle and 
knocking down to the last bidder before the flame expired " (Kingston's 
Hertfordshire during the Great Civil War, p. 154 n.). 

2 The account of the siege of Arundel is mainly based on Waller's 
own despatches, which were promptly published (Full Relation of Late 



84 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

After his capture of Arundel Castle on 9th December, 
Lord Hopton had left Sir Edward Ford in command, 
with more than 200 men and " many good officers, who 
desired or were very willing to stay there, as a place very 
favourable for the levies of men which they all intended, 
and it may be that the more remained there out of the 
weariness and fatigue of their late marches, and that they 
might spend the rest of the winter with better accommoda- 
tion. The Governor was a man of honesty and courage, 
but unacquainted with that affair, having no other ex- 
perience of war than what he had learned since these 
troubles. The officers were many without command ; many 
whereof were of natures not easy to be governed, nor like 
to conform themselves to such strict rules as the condition 
of the place required, or to use that industry as the exi- 
gence they were like to be in made necessary." Amongst 
them was " Colonel Bamford, an Irishman, though he 
called himself Bamfield; who being a man of wit and 
parts, applied all his faculties to improve the faction, to 
which they were all naturally inclined, with a hope to make 
himself governor." 1 

Doubtless the garrison was much increased by the 
refugees driven in from Cowdray and other positions on 
the line of Waller's march. 

Hopton had caused various entrenchments to be made 
for the defence of the town, which it was Waller's first care 
to capture. At dawn on Wednesday, the 2Oth, he surveyed 
the enemy's position and speedily found, he says, a place 
" to flank their line with our ordnance. We fell upon the 
north side of the works " while another detachment made 
a simultaneous attack on the south-west side of the town. 
After about half an hour's fighting, the outworks, with 
some eighty prisoners, were taken. About ten o'clock the 

Proceedings of Sir W. Waller, John Field, 8th January 1664), and 
have been several times reprinted. 
1 Clarendon, B. viii, 8. 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 85 

Cavalier horse made " a brave sally " but was repulsed. 
The storming party " beat them into the Castle, and en- 
tered the first gate with them; the second they made good 
and barricaded, and there they are welcome." Scouring the 
streets, the Parliamentarians captured a captain, a lieu- 
tenant, and several other prisoners. Certain townsmen 
having taken refuge in the Church of St. Nicholas, pre- 
parations were made to smoke them out, whereupon they 
surrendered at discretion. Waller was now in possession 
of the town of Arundel. The garrison kept up a brisk fire 
of musketry from the Castle, but were not able to com- 
mand any considerable portion of the town. Only three or 
four men are said to have been killed in the attack, but 
Lieut-Colonel Ramsay, who was one of the first to enter 
the town, " whilst casting his eyes towards the Castle, was 
unfortunately slain with a musket ball from thence; he was 
interred on the following Saturday, six trumpeters going 
before the corpse with a mournful sound, his sergeant- 
major, to whom his place fell, following, and then all the 
officers of his regiment." 

Immediately after the capture of the town Waller had a 
narrow escape. " A perfidious rascal for hire, or some 
other wicked end, would have killed our noble general ; but 
it pleased God that his musket went not off, so that his 
wicked design was prevented, and himself deservedly 
hanged." l 

The Rev. John Coulton, whose letter to Mr. Samuel 
Jeake has already been quoted, states that Sir William 
"took Arundel town with 140 prisoners to boot, whereof 
60 bear arms for the Parliament, the rest are sent to Lon- 
don"; and he adds, "our Wiston Cavaliers left the house 
and fled for their lives, and in their march at Findon left 
3 carts laden with plunder, the which we with a party of 
1 2 horse fetched home and refreshed our weary soldiers ; 

1 A wicked plot against the person of Sir William Waller, etc. 
London, printed for Robert Wood, MDCXLIV, January nth. 



86 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

these things being by the Lord's hand done, my Colonel 
[Morley] advanced to Arundel, leaving at Shoreham Capt. 
Temple, at Bramber Capt. Fuller and Capt. Everden. . . . 
Tell Widow Dod I eat and drink with both her brothers 
William and John, they are very well; only my uncle Pye 
wants his feather bed to sleep on." 

The readiness of prisoners to take service with their 
captors, of which Mr. Coulton gives an instance, is a curious 
feature of the Civil War. It suggests that they were com- 
batants rather from necessity than conviction, and that the 
division of the country into two well-defined parties was 
less thorough than we are sometimes tempted to assume. Of 
the prisoners taken by Waller at Alton on I2th December, 
a number, variously stated as being 300, 500, and 600, ac- 
cepted the offer of freedom on condition of taking the 
Covenant, and engaging to serve the Parliament. During 
the following week they proved the groundlessness of the 
doubts which were freely expressed as to their fidelity by 
a fierce assault upon their former comrades at Arundel. 1 
The day of Cromwell's East Anglian army, invincible from 
its combination of perfect military discipline with intense 
religious enthusiasm, was yet to come. It was not only on 
the Parliamentary side that this pressing of prisoners into 
service was practised. In November 1642 the King sur- 
prised the Red Trained Bands of the City of London at 
Brentford, and threatened to hang the prisoners if they did 
not join his army. " A smith was brought to burn them 
on the cheeks," whereupon 200 declared for the royal ser- 
vice, and " 140 tendered their persons to be stigmatized 
rather than yield "; they were, however, released unhurt. 2 
Considering that they were mere London apprentices, the 
number of those who elected to stand to their colours and 
take their punishment was very creditable. 

Waller now addressed himself to the siege of Arundel 

1 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. xvi. 

2 S. A. C., v, 64. 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 87 

Castle, which resisted him for seventeen days. As a token 
of defiance the garrison hoisted a red flag, for, says White- 
lock, "the Earl of Essex's colours were a deep yellow; 
others setting up another colour were held malignants, and 
ill-affected to the Parliament's cause. So small a thing is 
taken notice of in the jealousies of war." l Waller's force 
consisted of not less than 6,000 men, and he was ex- 
pecting large reinforcements. He says: "I am very weak 
in foot and my horse so hacknied out that they are ready 
to lie down under us. I expect Colonel Bayne here this 
day and Colonel Morley." The first-named officer was 
bringing up a cavalry reinforcement, 600 strong, sent 
to Waller by the Earl of Essex. On Thursday, 2ist 
December, Colonel Morley arrived with his regiment, in 
which were, as we know, the two brothers of the widow 
Dod, the Rev. John Coulton, and his uncle Pye. A first 
consignment of six waggons of provisions, collected by 
well-wishers in the county, to be followed by others, also 
arrived. The long frost, which had made easy the marches 
both of Hopton and Waller, at length broke, and the be- 
siegers were exposed to storms of wind and rain. As far 
as possible they were billeted in the town, but the musketry 
fire from the garrison continued harassing. In order to 
check this Major Bodley, " perceiving divers in the castle 
look forth in a balcony," posted himself " in a private place 
of advantage," and by a well-directed volley " slew and 
wounded divers of the enemy." 

In addition two "saker drakes," or light field pieces, 
were mounted that night on the tower of Arundel Church, 
and next day, together with certain musketeers, they 
poured a continuous fire into the upper portion of the 
castle. Further reinforcements arrived from Kent, Sir 
Michael Livesay with a regiment of horse, and Sir William 
Springate with a regiment of infantry. Desertions from 

1 Whitelock's Memorials. 



88 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the castle began to be very numerous, and continued 
throughout the siege, A certain Richard Smith, a deserter 
from the army of the Parliament, was arrested by a guard 
four miles distant. He had been hired to go to Hopton 
for aid, for a sum of " twenty shillings of which he had 
twelve pence in hand." When questioned by the captain 
of the guard, he said he had lost the letter to Lord Hopton. 
Having been proved to be " an arch spy in our army," he 
was hanged on the bridge, within sight of the castle. He 
had described the state of the garrison; their strength was 
" 1,000 foot and 100 horse, but no provender for them. 
They had store of oxen, but no beer or wine save water 
only, which was in the Castle well; that the common 
soldiers with him had that day half a pound of bread 
weighed out to them." 

Steps were taken to drain off the water of Swanboume 
Lake, which supplied the castle wells, and on Saturday 
this work was completed. On Sunday further reinforce- 
ments arrived from Kent, consisting of two regiments 
under Colonels Head and Dixie, which together with 
" divers regiments from Sussex" raised Waller's force to a 
total of not less than 10,000 men. On Monday a sortie 
was attempted from the castle, but driven back. Waller, 
sure of his prey, refused to exchange prisoners, or to 
promise quarter in case of surrender. 

The only hope for the garrison lay in relief by Lord 
Hopton. But Hopton was a broken reed. At his head- 
quarters at Winchester he was suffering much from dissen- 
sions in his heterogeneous army. The " English-Irish " 
contingent, which had been brought over to fight on the 
royal side, was continually at loggerheads with the Corn- 
ishmen, who were numerous in the force. From bandying 
opprobrious epithets, "Cornish Choughs, Puritans, and 
Roundheads" on the one side, and "Irish kernes and 
Popish dogs " on the other, they fell to fighting. Several 
Cornishmen were killed, and their comrades, variously 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 89 

estimated at 500 to 1,500, deserted their colours and re- 
turned to their homes. 1 

The bringing over of Irishmen to fight on English soil 
was regarded with great indignation by the Parlia- 
mentarians, and with disfavour by many Royalists. It was 
looked upon very much in the same light as the employ- 
ment of natives as combatants in the South African War. 
Whitelock says: " Divers of the Irish, about 1500, were cast 
away at sea coming to serve his Majesty. It was observed 
that these bloody Irish coming over hither never did any 
service considerable, but were cut off, some in one place 
and some in another. In all places the vengeance of God 
follows bloodthirsty men." 2 In the main the Civil War, 
considering its date, was conducted with remarkable 
humanity, and the presence of an Irish contingent, re- 
garded as composed of irresponsible foreigners, lacking the 
restraints which influenced both English parties, was 
feared as likely to be the occasion of outrage and bar- 
barity. 

But in spite of his troubles, Hopton succeeded in march- 
ing out of Winchester with 2,000 cavalry and 1,500 in- 
fantry. He reached Petersfield on Wednesday the 27th. 
The news of his movement raised fresh hopes in the 
garrison, who " came forth to the balcony again," only to 
be shot down by Waller's musketeers posted in the ruins 
of an old chapel. The besieged had managed to keep in 
communication with Hopton, and Waller's men discovered 
an ox-hide boat in the river, which had been used to ferry 
over a messenger. Desertions from the castle were 
numerous, and continued to be so until the end of the 
siege. 

On Thursday the 28th a flag of truce was hoisted, and 
an application was made by the garrison to Sir William 
Waller for a supply of sack, tobacco, dice, and cards, in 

1 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. xviii. 

2 Whitelock, Memorials, March 1644. 



90 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

return for which they offered beef and mutton. Waller 
was no bigot; and this message was probably in jocular 
reference to a pleasant passage between him and Lord 
Crawford at Alton on I2th December. 1 Lord Crawford 
had sent to him at Farnham asking for a rivulet of sack, 
and promising a fat ox in exchange. " Our worthy Sir 
William sent in a loving compliment to the Lord Crawford 
half a hogshead of sack, who mistrusting the matter and 
the messenger, caused the messenger and divers others to 
taste thereof, and then caused it to be carefully laid by for 
his own drinking." Sir William demanded the promised 
ox, whereupon Lord Crawford replied that he would bring 
it himself. Waller " fails not at nightfall to go in search of 
his ox, and, instead of a beast, brought away 565 prisoners." 
Crawford fled in haste, without his hat or cloak, and it was 
a standing joke that he had " left his sack at Alton." Next 
day he wrote a letter to Waller, which was read in the 
House of Commons on i8th December: 

"To SIR W. WALLER: 
" SIR, 

" I hope your gaining of Alton cost you dear. It 
was your lot to drink your own sack, which I never in- 
tended to have left for you. I pray you favour me so much 
as to send my owne chirurgion, and upon my honour I 
will send you a person suitable to his exchange. Sir, your 
servant, 

" CRAFORD." l 

But however Waller took the ribald application of the 
Arundel Cavaliers, it was doubtless a stumbling-block and 
offence to some of his serious-minded adherents. The 
Puritans, with all their virtues, to some of which the great- 
ness of England is chiefly due, were lacking in appreciation 
of the lighter side of human intercourse, and were in- 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, ccccxcviii, 76. 

2 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. xvi. 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 91 

tolerant of pleasures, whether harmless or the reverse. To 
them the rollicking humour of the pleasure-loving Cavalier 
was anathema. His very appearance betrayed his wicked- 
ness, every species of vice and iniquity was thought to 
lurk in his long and curly tresses; while the Royalist for 
his part imagined the close-cropped Roundhead to be as 
destitute of wit and wisdom as of hair. 

Hopton advanced rapidly to within a few miles of 
Arundel. On Friday the 29th, Waller left 1,500 men to 
continue the siege and marched to meet him. The armies 
faced each other on North Harden Down and at West 
Dean. Finding himself in the presence of a greatly superior 
force, Hopton, after the exchange of a few shots, retired in 
the direction of Havant. A few days later Colonel Norton, 
with his Hampshire dragoons, attacked a detachment of 
the retreating Cavalier army near that place, and took 
several prisoners. 

The garrison was now very anxious to make terms of 
surrender, but as Waller required it to surrender " at 
mercy," no negotiations took place. The news of the 
approaching fall of Arundel gave great satisfaction in 
London. On ist January 1644, Parliament requested the 
Earl of Essex to grant to Sir William Waller a commission 
as major-general to command the forces of the four associ- 
ated counties of Hants, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, appar- 
ently in confirmation of the commission already given him 
by the House. This commission, which enabled Waller to 
command independently in the four counties, was at once 
granted by Essex, not without an energetic protest, and 
was delivered to Waller on 3rd January. At the same time 
such necessaries as he required were ordered to be 
delivered to him a sharp contrast to the niggardly treat- 
ment accorded him when he was making his preparations 
at Farnham. 

Lord Hopton, having failed in his attempt to relieve 
Arundel, endeavoured to create a diversion by laying siege 



92 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

to Warblington Castle, between Chichester and Portsmouth, 
which was held by a small garrison. It appears that he 
took it " after long siege and with loss of more men than 
were there in garrison," but with no particular advantage 
to the Royalist cause. 

On 4th January Waller opened fire on Arundel Castle 
with some heavy guns which he had procured from Ports- 
mouth. The state of the garrison was now desperate ; not 
only were they short of provisions, " they had no bread, 
only each soldier had 2 spoonfuls of sodden wheat a day, 
beef they had enough " ; l but discord, fomented by Waller, 
reigned within the walls. Clarendon says : " By some of the 
soldiers running out to him, he found means to send in 
again to them, by which he so increased their faction and 
animosity against one another that after he had kept them 
waking, with continual alarms, three or four days, near 
half the men being sick and unable to do duty, rather than 
they would trust each other longer they gave the place and 
themselves up as prisoners of war upon quarter, the place 
being able to have defended itself against all that power 
for a much longer time." 

Accordingly on Friday, 5th January, a message was 
sent out of the castle by a drummer, who, being hungry 
and seeing abundance of food in the besiegers' lines, sur- 
rendered on his own account as a prisoner. A second 
drummer was sent, with the result that three commissioners 
were appointed on either side to arrange terms of surrender. 
While these were being arranged, Waller courteously per- 
mitted some ladies to leave the castle and dine at his own 
table. They were Lady Bishop, daughter of the Earl of 
Thanet, and wife of Sir Edward Bishop, with her two 
daughters, one of whom, Diana, was the young wife (only 
fifteen years old) of Henry Goring. 2 Mrs. Goring returned 
to the castle with the commissioners, the other ladies with 
their maids were provided with quarters by Waller. 

1 Rev. J. Coulton to Samuel Jeake. a S. A. C., v, 62. 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 93 

The following were the propositions made by Sir William 
Waller to the besieged in Arundel Castle: 

First. I require the castle of Arundel to be delivered 
into my hands by to-morrow morning, ten o'clock. 

Second. That all colonels of horse and foot, and all 
horse, arms, ammunition and military provision whatever 
be then delivered to me entire and unspoiled. 

Third. That all commanders, officers, and gentlemen 
have fair quarter and civil usage. 

Fourth. That all soldiers shall have quarter for their 
lives. 

Fifth. That for security of performance, Sir Edward 
Bishop and Sir Edward Ford be immediately delivered 
into my hands. 

EXPLANATIONS 

One. By fair quarter, I mean giving life to those that 
yield, with imprisonment of their persons; but civil 
usage, which is sufficient security that they shall not be 
plundered. 

Two. Concerning the place they shall be sent to, I will 
not determine, but will be left to mine own freedom, without 
further capitulation. 

Three. The ministers are included in the articles, and 
are prisoners, as well as the soldiers. 

Four. When I send away the officers, I shall take care 
that they shall not want horses to carry them, but will not 
be bound to let them have their own horses. 

At midnight Waller sent in an order to the garrison that 
Sir Edward Ford and Sir Edward Bishop must come forth 
at once if they desired a further cessation of hostilities. 
They gave themselves up at two o'clock in the morning, 
and the fortress was formally surrendered about nine o'clock 
in the morning of Saturday, 6th January 1644. 

Seventeen colours of foot and two of horse were taken, 



94 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

and more than 1,000 prisoners, including about a hundred 
officers and fifty gentlemen. A newswriter of the day says : 
" I never saw so many weak and feeble creatures together 
in my life, for almost all the common soldiers were half 
starved, and many of them hardly able to set one foot 
before another." l About 200 horses, 2,000 arms, many oxen 
both alive and dead, 20 barrels of powder, and 4,000 in 
money fell to the victors. 

Waller immediately sent " 2,000 horse and foot and two 
drakes to besiege my Lord Lumley's house in Sussex." 
This was Stanstead, in the parish of Stoughton; it had 
been sold after the death of the last Lord Lumley, in 1609, 
to Richard Lewknor, of the well-known Cavalier family. It 
surrendered at once. A force was also sent to destroy, or 
more probably to capture, the ironworks in St. Leonard's 
Forest, which, belonging either to the Crown or to the 
Royalists, had provided the royal ammunition. 

On 8th January news of the fall of Arundel reached 
London. Parliament immediately voted its thanks to Sir 
William Waller, " much approving of all his proceedings 
herein ; and they perceiving by the list that there are many 
gentlemen of the country, that are not soldiers, that are 
men of good estate, they do give power to him to ransom 
them for sums of money, the which they leave to his dis- 
position upon account." Sir H. Vane, junr., and Sir 
Arthur Haselrig were directed to prepare a letter for Sir 
William Waller, to be signed by Mr. Speaker Lenthall, 
" to congratulate him on his great and good success, and to 
encourage him according to his intentions to prosecute the 
advantages it has pleased God to bless him with." The 
town of Lewes sent Waller a present of 50 " in acknow- 
ledgement of my poor service at Arundel," as he says in his 
Vindication. " It is worth noting," wrote Mr. Coulton to 
Samuel Jeake, " to see how our Eastern gentry come to 
comfort our poor Colonel, and to show their thankfulness 

1 S. A. C, v, 63. 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 95 

to our noble Waller." The Rye troop, to which Mr. Coulton 
was attached, had apparently particularly distinguished 
itself; its Captain, Richard Cockeram, Mayor of Rye, was 
voted 100 by Parliament in testimony of his good services 
to the State. 

So for the third time within little more than a year the 
castle of Arundel was captured. Of the 800 soldiers taken 
prisoners, 500 joined Waller's army; the rest were sent to 
London, guarded by four troops of horse, " some in carts, 
some on foot," and arrived there on 2Oth January. 1 Waller 
proceeded to repair the defences of the castle ; " we have 
fortified Arundel as strong as ever you saw a thing," wrote 
Mr. Coulton ; and having left it in charge of Colonel Morley 
and Colonel Springate, prepared to follow Lord Hopton, 
who had made a "nimble retreat" to Winchester. The 
following letter from Lord Hopton to an unknown corre- 
spondent, preserved in a private collection, shows that he 
was informed that Waller was concentrating the troops he 
had left at various points on his line of communications 
before advancing into Hampshire. 

" Winchester, Jan. 25, 1644. 

" The intelligence that came to me of Sir William 
Waller's advancing, prooves only two regiments of horse 
that was moved fro' neere Chichester to Stansheed, and the 
quarters where we were, I have dayly intelligence of him 
and do not find he doth yet move, the foot that were att 
Guildford and moved thence to Godliman I heare ar gonn 
on towards Petworth which makes me think he will joyn his 
whole body in Sussex before he advances." 2 

Colonel Stapley remained governor of Chichester, and in 
that capacity objected to quarter some of Waller's troopers 
in the city; but the Parliament, after much correspondence 
on the subject, and a reference to the committee of both 

1 Journ. Commons ; S. A. C., v, 66. 

2 Morrison Collection of MSS., ii, 306. 



96 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

kingdoms, desired him to yield obedience upon all occa- 
sions to Sir William Waller as commanding-in-chief. 1 

So ended the winter campaign in Sussex of 1643. It is 
by far the most interesting period of the war as far as the 
county is concerned, and its importance as regards the 
general result can hardly be over-estimated. Civilians may 
not always be competent to grasp the military value and 
results of any set of operations in the field, but the political 
effects of a Royalist dominance in Sussex, and the import- 
ance to the Parliament of its overthrow, may be obvious to 
all. By its final elimination the position of London was 
relieved of a great element of insecurity, and the Parlia- 
ment was enabled to use to the full the enormous advan- 
tage which its hold of the capital afforded. The undisputed 
possession of the Sussex iron-forges may also have been an 
asset of greater value than is generally recognized. Per- 
haps an amateur may be permitted to suggest that Sir 
William Waller's stubborn persistence in the face of con- 
stant neglect and inadequate supplies, and his grasp of the 
essential points in the great game, have hardly received, 
either in his own day or since, their due meed of appro- 
bation. 

The town of Arundel suffered very severely from these 
repeated attacks. It had been grievously pillaged by Lord 
Hopton's army, and many houses had been destroyed. 
Further damage was done during Waller's siege of the 
castle. In 1645 a Committee was appointed by Parliament 
to meet at Billinghurst, and inquire into and pay for 
damage done by the army. On the petition of Nathan 
Older, Mayor of Arundel, .3,772 was allotted to certain 
inhabitants of the borough for repair of damages. 2 

1 Journ. Commons, January loth, i6th, February i6th, 2oth, 
March 7th, 1644; S. A. C., v, 66. See also Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, 
d, 45, 46, 47 ; di, 65. 

2 Arundel Corporation MSS., quoted by Dallaway, p. 210. See also 
Tiemey's Arundel, p. 714. 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 97 

Sir Edward Ford, a man " of honesty, courage and good 
meaning," as Clarendon says, had been the evil genius of the 
Royalist party in Sussex. His uncalculating zeal had brought 
on Chichester the calamity of a siege in 1642, and laid heavy 
burdens on the estates of his friends. A year later he had 
induced Hopton to occupy Arundel, and being left in com- 
mand had neglected to furnish the castle with supplies 
sufficient to enable it to hold out against Waller for any 
useful period. His connection with Ireton seems to have 
insured him a continuance of lenient treatment when taken 
prisoner, for we find him once again in arms against the 
Parliament in 1645. * Taking part in the defence of Win- 
chester Castle in October of that year, he assisted to draw 
up the terms of surrender, a task for which experience had 
qualified him. But so great was the interest he could com- 
mand that the comparatively small fine of 500 was all 
that was laid upon Up Park. 2 For the part they had taken 
in the defence of Arundel, he and Sir Edward Bishop had 
been declared by the Parliament on 9th October 1644 "to 
be incapable of any employment " perhaps a euphemistic 
way of letting them off easily. His father, Sir William Ford 
of Up Park, relying on the interest his son could command, 
was shrewd enough to throw the blame of his own proceed- 
ings upon him. There was in the old man something of the 
artfulness of the Simon Fraser of a later day. His petition, 
dated 24th October 1645, is an interesting document. 
" Your Petitioner humbly begs that Parliament would not 
punish him (the father) for the son's fault. . . . Two years 
since he was forced to go into the King's quarters, his land 
being sequestered, his house spoiled, and his personal estate 
taken from him. . . . And being at Winchester when Sir 
Ralph Hopton marched into Sussex with his army, your 
petitioner went along with him to see if he could get any 
rent of his tenants, but none of them paid him any money. 

1 Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. xxix. 

2 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 932. 

H 



98 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Yet he procured as many as spake unto him protections ; 
and at the return of the army [Hopton's retreat from 
Arundel] the soldiers wanting bread were appointed to 
fetch the same from the countrymen's houses. But they 
fearing to be plundered of their goods under colour of 
fetching bread, divers of the country came to your petitioner 
and entreated him to be a means that they might send 
some bread, and not to have the soldiers to fetch it. And 
according to their desire he sent a note to have it done so 
(for their good) and he had not any of his tenants taken 
prisoners, nor any of their cattle taken away for his rent 
behind, as he might have done." 

This petition helps us to a picture of the sufferings of 
all classes in West Sussex in that terrible winter of 1643: 
" the country far and wide ransacked for bread, rents un- 
paid, two sets of hungry soldiery in turn masters, church 
cottage mansion and park alike pillaged, the squires in 
gaol, the parson and the farmers fined." l 

" Our country," said a letter-writer of the time, " makes 
as much haste as it can towards the miserable condition of 
Germany, contrary parties having been all this winter in 
many counties still acting hostilities against one another, 
to the undoing of the inhabitants that are forced to stand 
to the courtesy of both." 3 

Sir Edward Ford is said to have retired for some time to 
the Continent, but in 1647 ^ e Queen, knowing his rela- 
tionship to Ireton, sent him over " to discover the intentions 
of the army, and promote an agreement between his Majesty 
and them." Sir John Berkeley followed, and met him at 
Reading, with the same hopeless intrigue in view. 3 On the 
flight of the King from Hampton Court Ford was sus- 

1 Rev. H. D. Gordon, History of Harting, 1877, p. 84. 

- CaL S. P. Dom., Chas. I, ccccxcviii, 85. Mr. Harrison to 
John Bradley at the College of Tournay, Paris, 28th December 
1643. 

: Sir J. Berkeley's Memoirs, 1699. 



THE SIEGE OF ARUNDEL 99 

pected of being privy to it, and was ordered by the Parlia- 
ment to be arrested. 1 

When the war was over Ford acquired interest and 
favour with Cromwell and the Parliament. He was a clever 
engineer and projector; but some of his later schemes have 
an anticipatory flavour of the South Sea Bubble. In 1656 
" being encouraged by Oliver, and invited by the Citizens 
of London, he raised the Thames water into all the highest 
streets of the city, 93 feet high, in four eight-inch pipes, to 
the Wonder of all men, and the Honour of the Nation, 
with a rare Engine of his own Invention, done at his own 
charge and in one year's time. He also built the Great 
Water Engine near Somerset House, which supplieth the 
inhabitants of the Strand, and adjacent parts with water." 2 

His projects took a wide range. On 22nd September 
1663 Samuel Pepys records in his Diary: "This day my 
wife showed me bills printed wherein her father, with Sir 
John Collidon and Sir Edward Ford, have got a patent for 
curing of smoky chimneys." 3 

After the great fire of London he published " Experi- 
mental Physics how the King may have money to pay and 
maintain his Fleets, with ease to his people: London may 
be rebuilt and all proprietors satisfied : money to be at six 
per cent, on pawns, and the Fishing Trade set up, which 
alone is able, and sure to enrich us all. And all this with- 
out altering, straining or thwarting any of our Laws, or 
Customs, now in use." 4 

A year or two later he invented a mode of coining 
farthings. Each piece was to differ minutely from another 
to prevent forgery. He failed to procure a patent for this 
scheme in England, but obtained one for Ireland. He died 
in Ireland on 3rd September 1670, before he could carry 
his design into execution. 5 In some of the projects of his 

1 S. A. C., v, 63. " Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, i, 469. 

3 Pepys' Diary, ed. H. B. Wheatley, iii, 286. 

4 Reprinted Harleian Miscellany, iv, 195. 5 D. N. B. 



ioo SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

later days we seem to see a hint of the reckless daring 
which led him in earlier life, as High Sheriff of Sussex, 
to undertake the defence of Chichester and Arundel with 
insufficient means against overwhelming odds. 

His only daughter, Catharine, married Ralph, Lord Grey 
of Werke, maternal ancestor of the second and third Lords 
Braybrooke. 



CHAPTER VII 

CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, AND SPRINGATE 

THE clause in Waller's terms of surrender for the gar- 
rison of Arundel which provided that ministers were 
included in the articles, and to be prisoners as well as the 
combatants, was probably meant to cover the celebrated 
Church of England divine, Dr. Chillingworth, who was not 
only an inmate of the castle, but had taken a prominent 
part in its defence. Being in bad health he had perhaps 
selected it as a place of residence, with no warlike intent, 
but as offering comfortable winter quarters, protected by 
the supposed inaccessibility of Sussex from any possible 
stress of war. Although only in his forty-second year, 
Chillingworth had passed a life of considerable variety. 
Son of a mercer at Oxford, and godson of Archbishop 
Laud, he was a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and 
disputed against" John Fisher" [Percy] the Jesuit; in 1630 
he embraced Romanism and went to Douai, returning to 
Oxford the following year, and reverting to Protestantism 
in 1634. In 1638 he published his best-known book The 
Religion of Protestants a Safe Way of Salvation, and in 
the same year was appointed Prebendary and Chancellor 
of Salisbury. When war broke out he attached himself to 
the King's army, and was present at the siege of Glou- 
cester. " He invented," says Dr. Calamy, 1 " engines after 
the manner of the Roman ' testudines cum pluteis,' which 
ran upon cart wheels, with a blind or planks musket proof, 

1 Dallaway, i, 173. 
101 



and holes for four musketeers to play out of, placed upon 
the axletree, and carrying a bridge before it. The wheels 
were to fall into the ditch and the bridge to rest upon the 
town's breastwork, so making several complete bridges to 
enter the city." At Arundel Castle he had under his charge 
two small guns, called " murderers," the only guns mounted 
on the works. " Some say that he was actively engaged 
during the siege in constructing machines after the Roman 
method, and that the vexation arising from their failure 
greatly hastened his death. He was a good logician and 
used his logic to some purpose in theology ; but he left out 
an important consideration in his military elenchus when 
he forgot that the Romans did not employ ' villainous salt- 
petre ' in their sieges." 

Chillingworth was one of those "sons of the Renais- 
sance " to whom neither party offered a sure abiding-place. 
His contention that the test of reason should be applied to 
revealed religion, and his hatred of dogmatism drove him to 
the King's side, and brought on him the unquenchable 
wrath of the Puritan divines, who accused him of Socinian- 
ism, and a denial of the divinity of Christ. " Learne," said 
Cheynell, " the first lesson of Christianity, Self-deniall ; 
deny your owne will, and submit yourselves to God's; deny 
your reason, and submit to faith : Reason tells you there 
are some things above reason and you cannot be so un- 
reasonable as to make reason judge of those things which 
are above reason: Remember that Master Chillingworth 
did runne mad with reason, and so lost his reason and 
religion both at once : he thought he might trust his reason 
to the highest points; his reason was to be Judge, whether 
or no there be a God? Whether that God wrote any Booke? 
Whether the bookes usually received as Canonicall be the 
bookes, the Scriptures of God? What is the sense of those 
books? What Religion is best? What Church purest?" 
The day of liberty of conscience was not yet: if either 
faction used the phrase, it meant the triumph of its own 



CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, SPRINGATE 103 

principles. At Oxford Chillingworth was as much out of 
place as at Westminster. He learned there that there were 
other sins as great as those of violence. 1 " Seeing," he 
declared in a sermon preached before the Court, " publicans 
and sinners on the one side, against scribes and pharisees 
on the other; on the one side hypocrisy, on the other pro- 
faneness; no honesty nor justice on the one side, and very 
little piety on the other; on the one side horrible oaths, 
curses and blasphemies, on the other pestilent lies, calumnies 
and perjury; ... I profess that I cannot without trembling 
consider what is likely to be the event of these distractions." 
" How few," he said in another place, " of our ladies and 
gentlewomen do or will understand that a voluptuous life 
is damnable and prohibited unto them!" The men, too, 
came in for their share of blame: " They that maintain the 
King's righteous cause with the hazard of their lives and 
fortunes, but by their oaths and curses, by their drunk- 
enness and debauchery, by their irreligion and profane- 
ness, fight more powerfully against their party than by all 
other means they do or can fight for it, are not, I fear, 
very well acquainted with any part of the Bible." The 
London newspapers had hardly worse charges to bring 
than this ; and after such a sermon the Court at Oxford 
was no place for Chillingworth. He took refuge with 
Hopton, the stout soldier, the lover of peace, the enemy of 
all license and irregularity of life. 2 

It happened, apparently by chance, that when Arundel 
fell, Dr. Chillingworth's arch-enemy, Dr. Cheynell, was pre- 
sent with Waller's army. He, too, was a native of Oxford, 
the son of a physician ; he was a fellow of Merton College, 
and in 1637 was appointed to the living of Marston St. 
Lawrence, Northamptonshire. Being notorious for his 
Calvinistic opinions he was plundered and driven out by 
the King's troops in 1642; became a chaplain in the 

1 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. xiv. 2 Ibid. 



104 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Parliamentary army, and a member of the Westminster 
Assembly in 1643; from 1643 to 1660 he was the "in- 
truded" rector of Petworth. In 1643 he published The 
Rise, Growth, and Danger of Socinianisme, in which he 
particularly attacked Chillingworth and endeavoured to 
prove that "the Religion which hath been so violently 
contended for (by the Archbishop of Canterbury and his 
adherents) is not the true pure Protestant Religion, but an 
Hotchpotch of Arminianisme, Socinianisme and Popery." 

Cheynell wrote a very remarkable book, in which he re- 
counted at length the somewhat extraordinary proceedings 
which followed; partly, it seems, in order to refute the 
accusation that Chillingworth was not well treated by his 
captors, and partly in exultation over his own outrageous 
proceedings at Chillingworth's funeral. 1 He states that he 
came into Sussex to exercise his ministry among his 
friends, in a place where there had been little of the power 
of religion either known or practised. About the end of 
November he travelled from London to Chichester, accord- 
ing to his usual custom, to observe the monthly fast. He 
was guarded by a convoy of sixteen soldiers who faced 
about two hundred of the enemy, and put them to flight. 
He arrived at Arundel on the 2ist of December, and re- 
mained there until the castle was surrendered on 6th January. 
Finding that Chillingworth was sick, he represented his 
condition to Sir William Waller, who commended him to 
the care of his chaplain, who laid him on his own bed and 
supplied him with all necessaries which the place afforded. 

1 Chillingworth i Novissima, or, The Sicknesse, Heresy, Death and 
Buriall of William Chillingworth (In his own phrase) Clerk of Oxford, 
and in the Conceit of his fellow Souldiers, the Queens Arch-Engineer, 
and Grand-Intelligencer. Set forth in a A Letter to his Eminent and 
learned Friends, a Relation of his Apprehension at Arundell, a Dis- 
covery of his Errours in a Briefe Catechism, and a short Oration at 
the Buriall of his Hereticall Book. By Francis Cheynell, late Fellow 
of Merton Colledge. Published by Authority. London. Printed for 
Samuel Gellibrand, at the Brazen Serpent in Pauls Church-yard, 1644. 



CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, SPRINGATE 105 

When the other prisoners were sent to London, it was 
evident that Chillingworth was not fit to take the journey, 
and at Cheynell's request he was sent to Chichester. The 
governor gave orders that he should not be handed over to 
the Marshall, but delivered to the charge of a Lieutenant 
Golledge. He was housed in the Bishop's palace, where he 
had very courteous usage, and every accommodation requisite 
for a sick man. Free passage was offered to any of his 
friends who might wish to visit him. 

But poor Chillingworth was dying, and perhaps his end 
was hastened by the importunities of his enemy, moved, as 
he asserted, not only by pity for his bodily condition, but 
by concern for the welfare of his soul. Cheynell attributes 
his death to his great depression. " I entreated him to 
pluck up his spirits and not to yield to his disease; but I 
perceived that though reason be stout when it encounters 
with faith, yet reason is not so stout when it is to encounter 
with affliction; and I cannot but observe that many a 
Parliament-soldier hath been more cheerful in a prison, 
than this discoursing engineer and learned captive was in 
a palace." As one reason for this depression, Cheynell 
alleges that Chillingworth was disliked and abused by most 
of the officers in Arundel ; they looked upon him as an in- 
truder into their councils of war, and (one of them whis- 
pered) as the " Queen's intelligencer," who was set as a spy 
over them and their proceedings. An officer had said that 
they were bound to curse that little priest to the pit of hell, 
for he had been the ruin of them all ; that he had so much 
credit at Court, and the Court-Council so much influence 
over their military Council, that they were over-awed and 
durst not contradict Mr. Chillingworth, for fear their own 
resolutions might succeed ill, and then his counsel be 
esteemed the better; that Mr. Chillingworth was so con- 
fident of his great wit and parts, that he conceived himself 
able to manage martial affairs, in which he had no experi- 
ence, by the strength of his own wit and reason. There 



io6 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

was evidently some inclination to make him a scape- 
goat. 

The poor man was not allowed to die in peace. "In 
compassion to his soul " Cheynell dealt " freely and plainly " 
with him, and told him that he had been very active in 
fomenting those bloody wars against the Parliament and 
Commonwealth of England, his natural country, and by 
consequent against the very light of nature. Chillingworth 
acknowledged that he had been active in the war, but that 
he had ever followed the dictates of his conscience ; and 
that if Cheynell would convince him that he was in error, 
he would not find him obstinate. This was the occasion 
for a series of discussions, in which the aggressive Puritan 
seems to have browbeaten the dying man unmercifully. 
Cheynell put to him that the difference was not between 
the King and the Parliament, but between the Parliament 
and the delinquents ; and indeed between the Queen and 
the Parliament: that the King's visit to the House on 
4th January 1642 was upon the Queen's errand, and that 
the Queen was discontented because her bloody design 
was not put in execution. Chillingworth replied that he 
could not deny it, and would not excuse it. Much political 
discussion of a somewhat futile character followed. 

" My heart," says Cheynell, " was moved with compassion 
towards him, and I gave him many visits after this first 
visit; but I seldom found him in fit case to discourse, be- 
cause his disease grew stronger and stronger, and he weaker 
and weaker. When I found him pretty hearty one day, I 
desired him to tell me, whether he conceived that a man 
living and dying a Turk, Papist, or Socinian could be 
saved. All the answer I could gain from him was, that he 
did not absolve them, and would not condemn them. I was 
much displeased with the answer upon divers reasons." 

Chillingworth being much troubled with a sore throat, 
which was "like to choak him," Cheynell rode over to 
Arundel to fetch a doctor who had previously visited him, 



CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, SPRINGATE 107 

but found that he had been called out of the town to attend 
to Sir William Springate. During Cheynell's absence a 
religious officer of Chichester garrison followed his suit to 
Mr. Chillingworth, and entreated him to declare himself in 
point of religion. This seems to have been the last straw, 
and death came to relieve the poor man from his tormentors. 
It is excusable to recall Sydney Smith's conception of the 
most horrible of ends, to be preached to death by wild 
curates. 

Controversy pursued him to the grave. Some of his 
enemies wished to deny him Christian burial. His friends 
urged that being Chancellor of a Cathedral, he should be 
buried in the Cathedral and in the chancel. A third and 
middle course prevailed "to bury him in the cloisters, 
among the old Shavelings, Monks and Priests, of whom he 
had so good an opinion all his life." " There were," says 
Cheynell, " all things which may any way appertain to the 
civility of a funeral, though there was nothing which belongs 
to the superstition of a funeral. His body was laid in a 
convenient coffin, covered with a mourning-hearse cloth, 
more seemly (as I conceive) than the usual covering, patched 
up out of the mouldy relics of some moth-eaten copes. His 
friends were entertained (according to their own desire) 
with wine and cakes ; though that is, in my conceit, a turning 
of the house of mourning into a house of banqueting. All 
that offered themselves to carry his corpse out of pure 
devotion, because they were men of his persuasion, had 
every one of them (according to the custom of the countrey) 
a branch of rosemary, a mourning ribband, and a pair of 
gloves." 

At the grave was enacted the most surprising scene in 
all this strange story. Cheynell appeared carrying in his 
hand a copy of The Religion of Protestants. The author, 
he said, " hath left that fantasy which he called his religion 
upon record in his subtle book. He was not ashamed to 
print and publish this destructive tenet, ' that there is no 



io8 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

necessity of Church or Scripture to make men faithful 
men.' ... I shall undertake to bury his errors which are 
published in this so much admired but unworthy book ; and 
happy would it be for this kingdom if this book and all its 
fellows could be so buried that they might never rise more, 
unless it were to a confutation ; and happy would it have 
been for the author if he had repented of those errors, that 
they might never rise for his condemnation ; happy, thrice 
happy will he be if his works do not follow him, if they 
never rise with him nor against him." 

Then suiting the action to the word, Cheynell flung the 
hated volume into the grave. " Get thee gone then," he 
said, " thou cursed booke, which has seduced so many 
precious souls; get thee gone, thou corrupt rotten booke, 
earth to earth, and dust to dust; get thee gone into the 
place of rottennesse, that thou mayest rot with thy author, 
and see corruption." Whereupon he went from the grave 
to the pulpit, and preached on the text, " Let the dead 
bury their dead, but go thou and preach the Kingdom of 
God." 

He closes his account of the funeral in a passage of 
biting eloquence: " I dare boldly say, that I have been more 
sorrowfull for Mr. Chillingworth, and mercifull to him than 
his friends at Oxford : his sicknesse and obstinacy cost me 
many a prayer, and many a teare. I did heartily bewaile 
the loss of such strong parts, and eminent gifts ; the losse 
of so much learning and diligence. Never did I observe 
more acutenesse and eloquence so exactly tempered in the 
same person: Diabolus ab illo ornari cupiebat\ for he had 
eloquence enough to set a faire varnish upon the foulest 
designe. Howie ye firre trees, for a cedar is fallen; lament 
ye sophisters for the master of sentences (shall I say) or 
fallacies is vanished: wring your hands, and beat your 
breasts, ye Antichristian Engineers, for your Arch-Engineer 
is dead, and all his Engines buried with him. Ye daughters 
of Oxford weep over Chillingworth, for he had a consider- 



CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, SPRINGATE 109 

able and hopefull project how to clothe you and himselfe 
in scarlet, and other delights. O how are the mighty fallen, 
and the weapons, nay Engines, of warre perished!" 

Mr. Gardiner is very lenient to Cheynell in respect of a 
scene which has usually excited the indignation of modern 
writers. 1 He urges in extenuation that Cheynell pro- 
nounced no positive sentence of damnation upon the 
heretic. Cheynell, he suggests, was not contending for the 
mere chips of orthodoxy: he saw, and saw rightly, that 
the contention between himself and Chillingworth involved 
deeper issues than those of the Civil War. Behind the death- 
bed of the divine who had lodged an appeal to human 
reason, he descried, dimly in the distant future, the shadowy 
forms of Voltaire and the commune of Paris. 

To the present writer it appears from a careful perusal 
of Chillingworthi Novissima that Cheynell was seriously 
concerned neither for the bodily comfort, nor for the eternal 
salvation, of his opponent; rather that he was filled with 
the hateful arrogance of the bigot, with the conceit that the 
secrets of Divine truth were open only to himself and his 
fellows; and that the aim of his alternate coaxing and 
bullying was to win the triumph of a recantation even from 
the last dying gasp of his victim. That he failed to win it 
accounts for the bitterness he exhibited in the unseemly 
scene at the grave-side, and for the no less objectionable 
tone of his unpleasant book. 

Time has brought its revenge. Not only have the writ- 
ings of Chillingworth survived until our own day, but the 
principles for which he stood are dominant in the modern 
world. If Cheynell is remembered at all, it is for the viru- 
lence with which he opposed them. 

Chillingworth sleeps in his cathedral cloister; Cheynell 
in the little old church of Preston, near Brighton, to which 
parish he retired at the Restoration. A simple slab on the 

1 Civil War, ch. xiv. 



no SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

floor of the nave is the monument of the fiery divine who 
through those stormy years ruled the diocese with a 
stronger hand than any bishop's. Like many another, he 
lived long enough to see the setting up again of all that he 
had made it his life's work to destroy. 

Poor Dr. Chillingworth was not the only victim of the 
unhealthy condition of Arundel Castle. It seems indeed 
that the conquerors suffered quite as severely as had the 
garrison. Many died of a fever, probably typhus, the most 
notable being Sir William Springate, or Springet, of 
Ringmer, nephew of Sir Thomas Springate of Broyle 
Place, who had been appointed joint-governor with Colonel 
Morley. His widow has left some exceedingly interesting 
letters written in 1680, for the information of her grandson 
as to his Springet ancestry. 1 This lady was Mary, daughter 
of Sir John Preva, Knt., 2 who brought her husband a dower 
of 1,600. After his death she married Isaac Penington, 
son of Sir Isaac Penington, Lord Mayor of London in the 
first year of the war a vigorous and determined Puritan 
who secured the organization of the City for the interests of 
the Parliament. The son went further, and to the indigna- 
tion of his father, joined the Quakers in 1657, and was 
imprisoned in 1660 for refusing the oath of allegiance. His 
wife followed her husband's religious course with enthusiasm, 
and although she writes with full appreciation of her first 
husband's strict Puritanism, she quietly laments his not 
having embraced the whole truth, as she conceived that 
she knew it later. Her daughter Gulielma married the 

1 S. A. C., v, 67. These letters were printed in 1821, and later 
appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1851, edited by Hep- 
worth Dixon, who was apparently not aware of their previous publi- 
cation. 

2 Sir John Preva, Knt., Colonel in the service of the United Provinces 
under the Prince of Orange, married Anne Fagg, one of the co-heirs 
of Edward Fagg, of Ewell, near Feversham in the County of Kent, Esq. 
See inscription on monument to Sir William Springett, Knt., in 
Ringmer Church. 



CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, SPRINGATE 1 1 1 

celebrated William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, and to 
their eldest son Springet Penn the letters above mentioned 
were addressed by his grandmother. They present an un- 
rivalled picture of an aspect of the times not very commonly 
appreciated the life of a country gentleman of good degree, 
a soldier and sportsman, " an artist in shooting and fishing 
and making of lines and ordering of baits and things for 
that purpose " who was yet a Puritan of the strictest in 
up-bringing and practice, and spent his whole fortune for 
the service of the Parliament. Incidentally we get a glimpse 
of the trouble of the times, the almost insuperable difficulties 
of travel, the desolation at Arundel after the siege. From 
such a source a somewhat lengthy quotation does not seem 
out of place. 

" A Letter from me [M. P.] to my dear grandchild Springet 
Penn, written about the year 1680, and left to be 
delivered to him at my decease. 

" DEAR CHILD, Thou bearing the name of thy worthy 
grandfather Springet, I felt one day the thing I desired 
was answered, which was the keeping up his name and 
memory, not in the vain way of the world, who preserve 
their name for the glory of a family, but in regard that he 
left no son his name might not be forgotten. . . . 

" Well, dear child, I will give thee some account of him. 
Thy dear mother's father was of religious parents; his 
father, thy great-grandfather (though a lawyer) was re- 
ligious and strict, in those things wherein the administra- 
tion of that time consisted, zealous against popery, scrupled 
putting his money to use, and was of a sober conversation, 
and in the exercise of what (in the dim light of that day) 
was accounted holy duties. He died of a consumption, 
leaving thy great-grandmother with two sons and with 
child of a daughter. She was married to him about three 
years, and left a widow about twenty-two or twenty-three. 



H2 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

She was an excellent woman and had a great regard to the 
well-being of her children, both in the inward and outward 
condition, and that she might the better bring up her 
children lived a retired life, refused marriage (though fre- 
quently well offered, as I have heard her say). She suffered 
pretty hard things from his two brothers, Sir Thomas 
Springet and a brother-in-law, who were his executors, 
through their jealousy that she being so very young a 
widow would marry. They refused her the education of 
her children, and put her upon suing for it, which she 
obtained with charge, and some years' suit. . . . She spent 
her time very ingeniously, and in a bountiful manner be- 
stowed great part of her jointure yearly upon the poor, and 
in physic and chirurgery. She had about twelve score 
pounds a-year jointure, and with it she kept a brace of 
geldings, a man and a maid servant. (She boarded at her 
only brother's, Sir Edward Partridge's.) She kept several 
poor women constantly employed in simpling for her in 
summer and in winter, procuring such things as she had 
use of in physic and chirurgery, and for eyes, having 
eminent judgment in all these, and admirable success, 
which made her famous and sought to out of several 
countries by the greatest persons and by the low ones. 
She was daily employing her servants in making oils, 
salves, balsams, drawing spirits, distilling of waters, mak- 
ing syrups, conserves of many kinds, purges, pills and 
lozenges. . . . 

" She kept an Independent minister in her house, and 
gave liberty to people to come twice a week to her house 
to hear him preach. She was a most tender and affection- 
ate mother to thy grandfather, and always shewed great 
kindness to me ; indeed she was very honourable in coun- 
selling her son not to marry for an estate, and put by 
many great offers of persons with thousands, urging him to 
consider what would make him happy in a choice. She 
propounded my marriage to him because we were bred 



CHILLINGWORTH,CHEYNELL,SPRINGATE 113 

together of children, I nine years old and he twelve, when 
we first came to live together. . . . 

" Now to come to thy grandfather ; she having, as I 
said, educated him and the rest of her children in the fear 
of the Lord, according to the knowledge given in that day, 
and took great care in placing him both at school and 
university, she sent him to Cambridge (as being accounted 
more sober than Oxford) and placed him in a Puritan 
college called Katherine's Hall, where was a very sober 
tender master of the house, and a grave sober tutor; as 
also she appointed one Ellis, who was accounted a Puritan, 
she having brought him up in his youth, and got the pre- 
ferment of a Fellow in that college. Thy grandfather 
coming from Cambridge young, was placed at the Inns of 
Court, but he being religiously inclined, stayed not long 
there, but came into Kent, where his mother was, and he 
heard one Wilson, who had been suspended for not con- 
forming to the bishops (for about three years) ; he was an 
extraordinary man in his day. Thy grandfather declined 
bishops and common prayer very early. When he was 
between twenty and twenty-one we married, and without 
a ring, and many of their formal dark words left out (upon 
his ordering it) he being so zealous against common prayer 
and such like things. . . . When he had a child he refused 
the midwife to say her formal prayer, and prayed himself, 
and gave thanks to the Lord in a very sweet melted way, 
which caused great amazement. He never went to the 
parish church, but went many miles to this aforementioned 
Wilson. Nor would he go to prayers in the house, but 
prayed morning and evening with me and his servants in 
our chambers, which wrought great discontent in the 
family (we boarded with his uncle Sir Edward Part- 
ridge). . . . 

" In his zeal against dark formality and the superstitions 
of the times, he having taken the Scotch Covenant against 
all popery and popish innovations, as also the English 

I 



H4 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Engagement, when his child was about a month old, he 
had a commission sent him to be a colonel of a regiment of 
foot, when the fight was at Edge-Hill, and he raised with- 
out beat of drum eight hundred men, most of them pro- 
fessors and professors' sons, near six score volunteers of his 
own company, himself going a volunteer and took no pay. 
He afterwards was made a deputy lieutenant of Kent, in 
which employment he was zealous and diligent for the 
cause. . . . 

" He went upon several services with his regiment, as at 
the taking of the Lord Craven's house in Surrey, when 
several of his own company of volunteers, men's sons of 
substance, were of the forlorn hope. He was also at the 
fight at Newbury, where he was in imminent danger, a 
bullet hitting him but had lost its force to enter. He lay 
some nights in the field, there being neither time nor con- 
veniency to fetch his tent, which he had with him. He lay 
in the Lord Roberts's l coach. They had scarcity of salt, 
and so would not venture upon eating flesh, but lived some 
days upon candied green citron and biscuit. He was in 
several other engagements. Then he carried his regiment 
back into Kent. . . . 

" Not long after his own native county, Sussex, was in 
danger of spoil by the Cavalier party, who had taken 
Arundel town, and fortified the town and castle; Sir 
William Waller commanded in chief against them, to 
whose assistance the associated counties were sent for. 
Amongst the several regiments thy grandfather's regiment 
was invited. He looking upon this engagement as a par- 
ticular service to his own county, with great freedom went 
to Arundel; there they had a long siege before the town. 
After they had taken the town they besieged the castle; it 
was a very difficult, hard service, but being taken, thy 
grandfather and Colonel Morley had the government and 

1 John, Baron Robartes, 1606-85, a colonel in the Parliamentary 
army; created in 1679 first Earl of Radnor. 



CHILLINGWORTH,CHEYNELL,SPRINGATE 115 

management of the castle committed to their charge. But 
few weeks after this the disease of the soldiers that were in 
the town and castle, called the calenture [or sun-fever, 
frequent at sea l ] seized on him at his quarters, at one 
Wade's, near Arundel, whither he sent for me in the depth 
of winter frost and snow, from London, to come to him, 
which was very difficult for me to compass, being great 
with child of thy mother, the waters being out at Newing- 
ton and several places, that we were forced to row in the 
highways with a boat, and take the things in the coach 
with us, and to horses to be led with strings tied to their 
bridles, and to swim the coach and horses in the highways ; 
which things the coachmen were so sensible of, and the 
badness of the ways between London and Arundel at that 
time of the year, which made them refuse me almost 
throughout the neighbouring streets; only one widow 
woman that kept a coach, and had taken a great deal of 
our money, and had a very great respect for thy grand- 
father, undertook to have her servant go, though he should 
hazard his horses. So I gave him a very great price 
(twelve pounds) to carry me down, and to return, if not 
with him, within a day's stay. It was a very tedious jour- 
ney, wherein I was benighted, and overthrown in the dark 
into a hedge, which when we came to come out we had 
hardly room to get out, for fear of falling down a very 
deep precipice that was on the other side, which if we had 
fallen on that side we had certainly broken ourselves to 
pieces. We had only a guide with us, that was the mess- 
enger from thy grandfather, who riding on a white horse 
was the only help we had to follow in the way. 

" Coming by a garrison late at night, the Colonel whereof 
required the guard to stop the coach, and give notice to 
him by firing a gun, which he did ; upon which the Colonel 

1 During the first cruise of the "ship-money" fleet in 1635 six 
hundred men died on board in a month from " stale water and stink- 
ing beef." 



n6 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

came immediately down to invite me to stay, and, to en- 
courage me, told me that my husband was like to mend, 
and that he understood I was near my time, beseeched me 
I would not hazard myself. Upon which the coachman 
(being sensible of the difficulties he should undergo) would 
needs force me to lodge in the garrison, saying his horses 
would not hold out, and they would be spoiled ; to which 
I replied that I was obliged to pay for all the horses if 
they suffered, and that I was resolved not to go out of the 
coach unless it broke until I came so near the house that 
I could compass it on foot; so finding my resolution he 
put on. 

" When we came to Arundel we met with a most dismal 
sight: the town being depopulated, all the windows broken 
with the great guns, and the soldiers making stables of all 
the shops and lower rooms: and there being no light in 
the town but what came from the light in the stables, we 
passed through the town toward his quarters. Within a 
quarter of a mile of the house the horses were at a stand, 
and we could not understand the reason of it, so we sent 
our guide down to the house for a candle and lantern, and 
to come to our assistance ; upon which the report came to 
my husband, who told them they were mistaken, he knew 
I could not come I was so near my time; but they affirm- 
ing that it was so, he commanded them to sit him up in his 
bed, 'that I may see her,' said he, 'when she comes'; but 
the wheel of the coach being pitched in the root of a tree 
was some time before I could come. It was about twelve 
at night when we arrived, and as soon as I put my foot 
into the hall (there being a pair of stairs out of the hall 
into his chamber) I heard his voice, ' Why will you lie to 
me! if she be come, let me hear her voice;' which struck 
me so that I had hardly power to get up stairs; but being 
borne up by two, he seeing me, the fever having took his 
head, in a manner sprang up, as if he would come out of 
his bed, saying, ' Let me embrace thee before I die; I am 



CHILLINGWORTH, CHEYNELL, SPRINGATE 1 17 

going to thy God and my God.' I found most of his 
officers attending on him with great care and signification 
of sorrow for the condition he was in, they greatly loving 
him. The purple spots came out the day before, and now 
were struck in, and the fever got into his head, upon which 
they caused him to keep his bed, having not been per- 
suaded to go to bed no day since his illness till then, which 
had been five days. Before his spots came out, they seeing 
his dangerous condition (so many Kentish men, both com- 
manders and others having died of it in a week's time near 
his quarters,) constrained him to keep his chamber, but 
such was his activeness of spirit and stoutness of his heart 
that he could not yield to this ill that was upon him, but 
covenanted with them that he would shoot birds with his 
cross-bow out of the windows, which he did till the fever 
took his head and the spots went in ; and after that the 
fever was so violent, and he so young and strong of body, 
and his blood so hot (being but about the age of 23) that 
they were forced to sit round the bed to keep him in, but 
he spake no evil or raving words at all, but spoke seriously 
about his dying to my doctor, which I brought down with 
me by his orders." 

For two days the devoted wife watched by the sick man, 
cooling his parched lips with her own cool lips, often for 
hours at a time, regardless of infection and of great pain to 
herself in her condition. At length he died, having a 
moment before called upon a kinsman of his " Anthony, 
come quickly"; who at that very instant came riding 
into the yard, being come many miles to see him. 1 " When 
he was dead," says the poor lady, " then I could weep." 

1 Probably his first cousin, Anthony Springett, third son of Sir 
Thomas Springett of Broyle Place, and younger brother of Herbert 
Springett, created a Baronet at the Restoration, of whom a tablet in 
Ringmer Church states that he " was a true sonne of the Church of 
England ; and for his love and loyalty to his King and Country, his 
death was lamented by all that knew him." 



n8 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

His body was placed on his own ammunition waggon 
and taken to Ringmer, where he was born, and where some 
of his ancestors lay. There was no public funeral, as " it 
was found that things were not in a condition to admit of 
such a charge, which would have been some hundreds." 
He died in debt to the extent of two thousand pounds, 
having expended large sums, including his wife's portion, 
on contributions to the Parliamentary funds, and on fitting 
out and provisioning his own troop of volunteers; and he 
had but twelve pounds in money in his trunk, and many 
large sums to be paid. 

His widow pays an eloquent and lengthy tribute to his 
religious zeal, and his generous charity ; and adds : " He 
was of a most courteous, affable carriage towards all ; most 
ingeniously inclined from a very lad, carving and forming 
things with his knife for his tools; so industriously active 
that he rarely ever was idle, but when he could not be 
employed abroad in shooting at a mark with guns, pistols, 
cross-bows, or long-bows, managing his horses (which he 
brought up and managed himself, teaching them bold- 
ness in charging) in such things as were needful for ser- 
vice; when he could not be, as I said, thus engaged 
abroad, then he would fence within doors, make cross- 
bow strings, placing the sight with that accurateness as if 
it had been his trade, or casting of bullets of all sorts, 
feathering his arrows that were for his carbines, or pull- 
ing his watch to pieces ; training up his servants, and him- 
self using the postures of war according to books he had 
for that purpose. He was also an artist in shooting and 
fishing, and making of lines and ordering of baits and 
things for that purpose. He was a great lover of coursing, 
but he managed his dogs himself; which things I mention 
to shew thee his ingenuity, but the vanity of those things 
his mind was out of when he was engaged in religion." 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 

WITHIN a month of the outbreak of civil war Par- 
liament declared that all charges and damages 
which had fallen on the Commonwealth since his Majesty's 
departure from the Parliament should be borne by the 
delinquents and other malignant and disaffected persons; 
" and that all his Majesty's good and well affected subjects 
who, by the loan of moneys or otherwise at their charge, 
have assisted the Commonwealth or shall in like manner 
hereafter assist the Commonwealth in time of extreme 
danger, may be repaid all sums of money by them lent for 
those purposes, and be satisfied their charges so sustained 
out of the estates of the said delinquents, and of the 
malignant and disaffected party in this kingdom." 1 This 
declaration could only be justified on the grounds that the 
Parliament and its supporters were the nation, and the 
King's followers a mere handful of rebels and traitors. 
If it was unjustifiable it was no less impolitic. The threat 
of confiscation converted many a lukewarm Royalist into a 
furious partisan. Many who had hoped to avoid all fighting 
were now ready to fight to the bitter end. 

A month later, on I 5th October 1642, the Lords passed 
a further resolution of the Commons. All who refused to 
contribute to the charge of the Commonwealth were to be 
imprisoned and disarmed. The revenues of bishops, deans, 
and chapters, and of all notorious delinquents who had 

1 Lords' Journals, v, 341. 
119 



120 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

taken up arms for the King, were to be sequestered for the 
use of the Commonwealth. 1 

The sequestrating Committee for the county of Sussex 
was at this time constituted as follows: Sir Thomas 
Pelham, Bart., Sir Thomas Eversfield, Sir W. Goring, 
Anthony Stapley, Herbert Morley, Thomas Whitfield, 
John Baker, Herbert Hay, Herbert Springett, Ralph Cooper, 
Hall Ravenscroft, Edward Apsley, John Downes, William 
Cawley, Edward Higgon, Thomas Chate, George Oglander, 
George Simpson, John Burbridge, Thomas Middleton, James 
Temple,Thomas Shirley, Henry Shelley,and Herbert Board, 
Esquires ; Captain Thomas Collins, Captain Carleton, and 
Captain Everden. 

One of these, Sir Thomas Eversfield of Den, Horsham, 
was shortly to be a victim of this very body; his own 
estate was sequestered on 28th September 1643, "for 
deserting on July i8th the service of the Commonwealth." 2 

In March of the following year an Ordinance declared 
that all who had directly or indirectly assisted the King 
were to be reckoned as delinquents, and that their property 
was to be sequestered by the Committee of the county in 
which it was situate; this being subsequently mitigated by 
a provision to set aside a fifth of the income of a seques- 
tered estate for the benefit of the wife and children of the 
delinquent 

During the first part of the war these matters were 
managed by a Committee of the House, which exercised 
control over the County Committees, and sometimes gave 
powers to generals in the field to levy fines for the payment 
of their troops. At Chichester, in 1642, we have seen that 
Sir John Morley paid Waller ^300. At the fall of Arundel 
John Caryll, of Harting, paid Waller .600 by way of 
composition for being in the Castle, although not in arms ; 
he stated that his father Sir John Caryll's house lying 

1 See Gardiner, Civil War, ch. i and ii. 2 S. A. C., v, 54. 



THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 121 

midway between Winchester and Arundel, Sir Ralph 
Hopton compelled him to accompany him when he marched 
into Sussex, and that he was detained at Arundel until its 
surrender to Sir William Waller. He hoped that this 
payment of 600 would save his estate from sequestration, 
but it was sequestered four months after. 1 

In January 1644, the Parliament being anxious to attract 
deserters from the King at Oxford offered pardon to 
Royalists who would submit before a fixed date, and should 
pay a sum to be assessed by way of compounding for their 
delinquency. In 1645, after the capture of Bristol, when all 
England was falling under the authority of the Parliament, 
this principle of compounding was made general. A 
Royalist who desired to free his estates from sequestration 
was to present himself before the Committee for com- 
pounding which sat at Goldsmiths' Hall. He was required 
to take the Covenant and the negative oath, which bound 
him never again to bear arms against the Parliament. He 
then had to declare full particulars with regard to the 
extent and value of his estate, any evasion or misstatement 
rendering him liable to a heavy fine. The matter was 
generally referred to the County Committee, especially with 
regard to any circumstance of extenuation alleged by 
the applicant. A fine was them imposed, varying in 
severity according to the position of the delinquent. Mem- 
bers of Parliament might be mulcted in half their estates 
John Ashburnham was fined 1,270, half the value of his 
estate * less distinguished Royalists might escape for one- 
sixth. The proceedings were often extremely complicated, 
and frequently lasted over several years, numerous peti- 
tions from claimants to estates and other persons interested 
having to be considered and reported on. A perusal of 
many of the cases gives the impression that, on the whole, 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 917; see also West Grinstead et les 
Caryll, par Max de Trenquale'on, 1893. 
Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1863. 



122 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the Committee at Goldsmiths' Hall was more lenient than 
the County Committees, although in exceptional instances 
the latter may have been unduly favourable to their friends. 

Of the great nobles, some, such as Thomas Earl of 
Arundel, submitted to the spoliation and sale of their 
estates rather than acknowledge the authority of the Par- 
liament so far as to compound for them, though by so 
doing they forfeited the whole, excepting the fifth reserved 
to the families of delinquents. 1 But the great majority of 
the upper and middle-class Royalists took the course 
offered them either to release their property from seques- 
tration, or, on their own discovery of their delinquency, to 
avoid it. In the latter cases there was a mitigation of the 
fine. 

In Sussex the leading Royalist gentry compounded for 
their estates, and particulars of their compositions are to be 
found in the proceedings of the Committee. The fines 
imposed were often enormous, when we remember that 
they must be multiplied about four and half times to bring 
them to the values of to-day. 

Sir Thomas Bowyer, Bart., of Leighthorne, was one of 
the first to avail himself of the Ordinance of the 3Oth 
January 1644. On 2/th February he pleaded that he had 
come in, not on account of sequestration, nor for the benefit 
of the declaration, but from his wish to serve Parliament. 
He had not been out of his house for fifteen months, and 
never sent horses, arms, or money to the King, except 
when the Sheriff of Chichester forced his servants to do 
it. No arrangement seems to have been come to at the 
time, for Sir Thomas appealed to the Barons of the Ex- 
chequer against his sequestration, and the case had not 
been decided at his death, in 1650, when he left thirteen 
children and debts of 8,000. His son Sir Thomas begged, 
and was granted, one-fifth of the sequestered estate. In 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, v, xii. 



THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 123 

May 1652, the Barons of the Exchequer having dismissed 
the appeal, leave was given to compound, and the fine was 
fixed at one-third of the estate, 2,033 iBs. $d. It may be 
noted in this case that William Cawley of Chichester, the 
regicide, begged allowance of a rent of 50 on Runcton 
Farm, North Mundham, bought in 1637 for 625 from Sir 
Thomas Bowyer, Bart, for the lives of the petitioner's three 
sons, the premises having been sequestered for Bowyer's 
delinquency. 1 

Thomas May of Rawmere was also an early applicant 
to compound. He took the Covenant at Chichester on 
2oth February 1644. He stated that since he was in 
Chichester, when it was taken by Sir William Waller, he 
had lived at Rawmere, being tenant of his own sequestered 
estate; he had never assisted his Majesty with horse, money, 
plate, or arms. Fine imposed 900, on 24th February 1646." 
Sir John Morley made a petition to compound. He urged 
that he had contributed nothing willingly to the King's 
forces at Chichester, as was proved by his voluntary pay- 
ment of ^"300 to Sir William Waller, from whom he 
procured release and protection. The County Committee 
reported that he had a commission of array from " the late 
King," was with the High Sheriff of Sussex in Chichester, 
and was active in abetting the mutiny raised by malignants 
in the city, but that he had since taken the Covenant and 
was conformable; that he had .1,140 a year, all seques- 
tered, and 500 a year fallen to him on the late death 
of his mother, but it was in the King's quarters, and he 
received nothing. In January 1645 a fine of 500 was 
imposed, and the estate released. 3 

Richard Williams, late Town Clerk of Chichester, peti- 
tioned in March 1644. He was led out of the way by 
threats and force, but returned as the prodigal, in repent- 
ance and with tears, resolved never thereafter to offend, 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 833-4. a Ibid., 834. 

3 Ibid., 837-8. 



124 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

but to sacrifice his life and fortunes in the Parliament's 
service. He had a wife and six children, also six orphan 
children entrusted to his care. He had no lands. He 
begged restoration to such places as he formerly held, 
discharge of his sequestration, and restitution of his house 
and goods, lately taken for the quarters of Sir William 
Waller. The Committee proposed a fine of 40, it appear- 
ing that he was forward in executing the Commission of 
Array in Chichester; his estate was 33 6s. 8d. a year, of 
which 13 135-. 6d. was by his office. 1 

The Earl of Thanet, of Tufton, Sussex, represented his 
case as one of special hardship, because in December 1643 
he paid .2,000 on pain of sequestration. Later he lost 
through the wars 6,000 oz. of plate, horses and sheep 
worth 2,000, a house which cost 32,000, woods and 
timber worth 20,000, beside his parks and deer, which 
were destroyed, and his household stuff, taken from his 
three houses at Windsor, Heathfield, and London. On 
these grounds his fine was first set at 4,000, but a remon- 
strance was made that as his real estate was worth 10,000 
a year, and as he had not only been in actual war against 
the Parliament, but had sent plate and money to the King, 
his fine ought to be 20,000. His case came before Par- 
liament on i Qth October 1644, and he was fined 9,000 
in spite of the County Committee's complaint that the 
discharge of the chief malignants was injurious to the Par- 
liamentary cause. 2 

The Committee was by no means unreasonable with 
regard to reducing fines where due cause could be shown. 
In the case of Sir Edward Bishop of Parham it was 
reported to the House of Commons in August 1644 that 
he was taken in arms at Arundel Castle, and was a prisoner 
in the Tower; that he had been "very opposite" to the 
Parliament from the first; and that his lands were worth 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 838. a Ibid., 839-40. 



THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 125 

2,500 a year, with a great personal estate. A fine of 
12,300 was proposed. The House admitted him to com- 
pound at one-third of his estate at least; although the 
Committee for compounding requested that he might not 
be admitted to compound, being a " great malignant." A 
year later, in November 1645, he was brought before the 
Committee on a warrant, sent to the Lieutenant of the 
Tower, and informed that he was fined 7,500, his estate 
being found to be 1,500 a year. He replied that he could 
not pay, and begged to have one-third of his estate set out 
and sold. During the next few months he continued to 
represent that the fine was beyond his ability to pay; that 
he was loaded with his father's debts, and was but a tenant 
for life, whereas the Committee had supposed him to be 
seized of an estate of inheritance. The fine was then 
reduced to 4,790. In July 1648 he was ordered to be 
committed to custody for neglecting payment of his fine. 
He died shortly afterwards, and the composition not having 
been completed, the County Commissioners re-sequestered 
the estate. After prolonged representations by his family, 
the lands being claimed, part by his widow for jointure, 
and the rest as entailed or settled on his children, the 
estate was finally discharged on their behalf in I654. 1 

Henry Bishop of Henfield, third son of Sir Thomas, 
begged on 1st October 1646 to compound for delinquency 
in bearing arms. In January 1645, being at Bristol, and 
resolved to make his peace with the Parliament, he got a 
pass to London for the wife of Mr. Netherway, a brewer 
with whom he was quartered, to use means thereto. She 
did not return within six weeks, so the petitioner took ship 
to Virginia, and lived on his plantation there, till he re- 
turned with a letter from the Council of that country to the 
Speaker. He was discharged by Order of Parliament on 
1 3th February 1647 " on tne earnest desire of the Colony 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 849-50. 



126 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

of Virginia, signified in a letter from the Grand Assembly." 
There is no mention of a fine. 1 

On the occasion of surrender of towns or garrisons on 
Articles of War, these Articles commonly stipulated the 
rates of composition to be paid by persons surrendering, 
which were always below the usual rates. We find many 
instances of claims to the benefit of such articles. The usual 
rate under Articles of Surrender seems to have been one- 
tenth. Robert Anderson, Counsellor at Law, of Chichester, 
surrendered on Oxford Articles and was fined at one-tenth, 
407 4s. Sd.* On 3Oth April 1646 Colonel George Gounter 
of Racton begged to compound on Truro Articles 3 for 
delinquency in bearing arms against the Parliament. He 
had a wife and many small children and was indebted 
2,000. His estate yielded only 130 a year, and his 
dwelling-house was much defaced. Sir Thomas Fairfax 
pleaded for moderation in dealing with him; in the Treaty 
at Truro " Colonel Gounter was a hostage, and his fair de- 
meanour deserves all civil respect. I desire you will please 
to consider him in a moderate composition, and consider 
the seasonable service done in the disbanding of those horse 
at that time." Gounter was fined at one-sixth, 870, reduced 
on the confirmation of the Truro Articles to 580, and 
further reduced subsequently to one-tenth, 520. Gounter 
pleaded that he had been obliged to sell great part of his 
estate to John Comber of Donnington, Co. Sussex, to 
satisfy the principal and interest of a mortgage created 
before the war, amounting to 1,625.* 

Many other Sussex men surrendered at Truro. John 
Taylor of Itchenor was fined at one-sixth, 36, reduced on 
Fairfax's representation to 24. Richard Taylor of Earnley 
was fined 546, reduced to 364." Richard Booker of 
Pulborough was fined at one-sixth, 37 IQJ. He was in arms 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1518. * Ibid., 1493. 

3 Hopton had surrendered to Fairfax at Truro on i4th March 1646. 

4 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1237-8. ' Ibid., 1258. 



THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 127 

again in 1648, and was fined a further 37 ios., although 
he begged discharge as not worth 200. In 1652 he was 
sequestered for non-payment. Thomas Craddock of 
Chichester compounded on Truro Articles. Sir Thomas 
Fairfax recommended him for a moderate composition, he 
being " a gentleman that hath fairly demeaned himself in 
this business." l He was fined 40. 

The County Committee at Chichester seems to have 
been occasionally rather officious, and even to have pro- 
voked resistance. In January 1647, acting on an order of 
the House of Commons for securing delinquents who had 
not compounded, it arrested Counter doubtless either 
Colonel George Counter or his brother Thomas William 
Coldham, and one Rayman. There was an attempt to 
rescue the prisoners, " in which John Farrington was very 
forward, and gained over Captain Sydney an officer of this 
garrison ; it was threatened that if the delinquents were not 
discharged by fair means, they should be by foul ; the Cap- 
tain sent for a file of musketeers to rescue them, but the 
mayor, at request of one of our committee, offered to assist 
and command the City trained bands." 2 The Committee 
for compounding ordered that Counter and Rayman, who 
had petitioned, should be released on security, or they 
could not perfect their compositions. 

William Coldham, junior, of Stedham, petitioned the 
local committee for his release; he was incapable of com- 
pounding, his stock having been taken away, and he being 
much in debt, with only an estate for life. But he was fined 
at one-sixth,;826 17^. 6d. His father was also fined 289 5-r. 
on his own petition in i649. 3 

The desire of applicants to put their case as favourably 
as possible sometimes led to strange expressions. In 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1131. 

* Ibid., 55. County Committee of Sussex to the Committee at 
Goldsmiths' Hall. 

* Ibid., 1637. 



128 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

October 1645 Thomas Sackvile of Sedlescomb applied to 
compound, having been in arms for the King. Being a 
younger brother and a soldier of fortune, he had thrice 
listed at the Guildhall for service in Ireland, but was left 
out on the settling of the regiment. He went to York till 
his elder brother died, " which made him consider, that 
which he doth believe are your thoughts, that he had an 
interest in this Kingdom, which he would not have to be 
within an arbitrary power, or the disposal of any man's 
will." He left the King's employ when it was in its best 
condition. Went into France, and continued at Rouen, 
never seeing the Queen nor the Court; had done nothing 
against the State since his estate fell to him. Fine .400. * 

The case of John Lewknor of West Dean seems a 
rather hard one. In April 1646 he begged to compound, 
and stated that in 1643, when quietly residing at home in 
perfect obedience to the Parliament, being then the King's 
ward, aged but nineteen, he was by a party of the Parlia- 
ment's soldiers causelessly pillaged of his goods, stripped 
of his clothes, violated in his person, and so threatened with 
wounds and torments that he was forced to fly to the 
Royalist quarters, six miles distant. The soldiers had no 
other pretext against him save that he had some of his 
name on the adverse party, arguing that he was therefore 
a malignant His narrative was notoriously known to all 
the country, and the County Committee had expressed 
much sorrow for the accident. But for this violence, he 
would never have taken up arms against the Parliament. 
He had been sequestered, lost many of his goods, and 
his woods had been felled at a loss of ,2,000. He begged 
the benefit of Barnstaple Articles, but apparently failing 
to produce proof of his surrender there (the General 
stated that " he was only informed of petitioner's being at 
Barnstaple ") he was fined at one-sixth, .1,440; " but if he 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 940. 



THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 129 

settle 150 a year on the ministers of East Dean, Charlton, 
and Chilgrove, co. Sussex, the Committee will request the 
House to remit the fine." 1 His mother, Mary Lewknor, 
having been sequestered " for adhering to the King " was 
fined at one-tenth, 522* Another Lewknor Thomas 
Lewknor of Amberley described as " Sir Edward Ford's 
menial servant," who had gone with his master into Arundel 
Castle, and " divers other garrisons of the late King," was 
fined at one-sixth, 84 in May i649. 3 

This Thomas Lewknor was the son of Frey Lewknor, 
who held a lease of Amberley Castle from the Bishop of 
Chichester. With other episcopal property the Castle was 
seized by the Parliament. In September 1648 it was sold 
to James Butler of London, merchant, with all its appur- 
tenances for ^"3,341 14$. 2.\d? Mr. John Goring, a connec- 
tion of the Lewknors, was in trouble in 1651. William 
Short of Amberley, victualler, deposed before the County 
Committee for sequestrations that when the Sussex insur- 
rection took place in 1648, Mr. John Goring of Amberley 
desired him to ride a horse with arms to the Lord Goring, 
and promised him great rewards if the King's forces should 
prevail against the Parliament's, telling him that he should 
then be made a colonel in the King's army. And further, 
that about half a year since Goring took a glass of beer 
and kneeling down drank a health to Prince Charles and 
to the confusion of the Parliament, telling the deponent 
that there were none in the parliament house but rogues, 
knaves and upstarts, and that he was a better man than 
any man sitting there. Another witness deposed that at 
the beginning of the troubles John Goring would have had 
the inhabitants of the parish of Amberley bring their 
goods into Amberley Castle, and that he would have se- 
cured it, and had said that if the parish would but join him 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1215 (see alsoflost, p. 294). 

2 Ibid., 1216. 3 Ibid., 2044. 
4 S. A. C., xvii, 217. 

K 



130 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

there was never a round-headed rogue should have his 
castle. According to Dallaway l Amberley Castle was 
plundered and dismantled by Waller's soldiery, but there 
seems to be no authority for this statement. 

Among other cases which, on the petitioner's showing, 
appear hard, was that of Robert Exton, of Chichester. 2 
He petitioned in 1645 to compound for delinquency in 
absenting himself from his dwelling under threats from 
the enemy. He never acted against Parliament by person 
or purse, but lent Parliament 50 on the Public Faith, and 
on the reducing of Chichester by Sir William Waller, he 
paid 90 to his soldiers, and had a house worth 9 a year 
pulled down for the better security of the town. He was 
indebted 500, and had five children. Fine i5O. 3 Sarah 
Cox, widow, also of Chichester, begged to compound for 
delinquency in leaving her house, which she was forced 
to do, it being plundered by the Parliament's forces. She 
went to Sherborne, where her daughter lived; she had 
never assisted the King. Fine 120* 

Of well-known Sussex Cavaliers, Sir Thomas Lunsford 
of Lunsford was admitted to compound in 1649 at one-sixth, 
300. He had no personal estate, and was much indebted. 3 
Colonel John Apsley of Pulborough was returned as a 
delinquent in 1644, but no proceedings were taken. In 1653 
he petitioned to compound, and was fined at one-third, ^100, 
subsequently reduced on allowance fora mortgage to^o. 6 
Sir Edward Alford of Offington, M.P. for Arundel, but 
"disabled" by Parliament, 22nd January 1643, admitted 
delinquency in leaving London for York in June 1642, 
living in the King's quarters, lending the King 200, and 
sitting in the first assembly at Oxford. His estate was 
much impoverished, had lain under sequestration for two 

1 Rape of Arundel, p. 230. 

2 Mayor of Chichester, 1641-2; see ante, p. 36. 

3 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 952. 4 Ibid., 1084. 
5 Ibid., 1263. 6 Ibid., 868. 



THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 131 

years, and was heavily charged. His fine was set at 2,908 
reduced in 1649 to 1,284 I 5- f - on Exeter Articles, 1,000 
to be taken off if he settle 100 a year from Cheltenham 
Rectory on the ministers. The case dragged on until 

I653- 1 

Sir Henry Compton of Brambletye was fined at one-tenth, 
5,289 los. 6d., but 3,675 to be abated if he agreed to 
settle various sums derived from rectories on the ministers 
thereof. 2 Sir Henry's daughter married John Lumley, son 
and heir of Richard, Viscount Lumley, the owner of Stan- 
stead, both of whom compounded as delinquents. In 
September 1646 Lord Lumley was fined 1,980, and 
John Lumley i, 800, for his estate in reversion; the former 
on Bristol, and the latter on Winchester Articles. In 
October Lord Lumley complained that although the order 
of suspension, pending the payment of his fine, had been 
served on the County Commissioners of Sussex, they were 
carrying away his woods formerly felled, " and by proclama- 
tion in church and market, give all who have contracted for 
any woods, liberty to do the like." : 

The estate of Lord Montague, the owner of Cowdray, a 
papist, was sequestered as to two-thirds by order of the 
House of Commons in 1643. William Yalden of Black- 
down, " forty years servant to Lord Montague and his 
father," seems to have leased the two-thirds sequestered. 
He complained in 1655 that his rent was with difficulty 
raised, " by reason of the low price of corn and cattle." 4 
Mr. William Gage of Framfield 5 and Sir Thomas Gage of 
Firle 6 also suffered as recusants. Sir Garrett Kemp of 
Slindon, had some difficulty in rebutting the charge of 
recusancy, his father having married a daughter of Sir 
Edward Gage, and himself a daughter of Sir John Caryll, 
both Catholics. The County Committee alleged on 3ist 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1009 (see also post, p. 294). 

2 Ibid., 1602. s Ibid., 920. * Ibid., 2543-4. 
5 Ibid., 2211. e Ibid., 3011. 



132 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

October 1644, that in the time of the rebellion he sent two 
horses to Chichester, with two of his servants, armed with 
pistols and swords, who continued there about three 
weeks, and rode backwards and forwards from Slindon to 
Chichester ; and further that he was " a reputed Church 
Papist, and bred up all his children Papists," and that he 
absented himself from his usual place of abode in the 
county by the space of two years. It was proved on his 
behalf, that he was not a Papist ; and that his children had 
not been in his tuition for many years, the youngest being at 
least forty years old. He was fined at one-sixth, 2,931 icxr. 1 
On nth June 1649, Dr. Wright and three other physicians 
certified that " being very infirm and aged, it would be 
efficacious for his ailments that he do repair to the Spa, for 
the benefit of the Spa waters." Three days afterwards a 
pass was signed by Fairfax for Sir Garrett Kemp and his 
servants to go beyond seas, for the above purpose, with a 
proviso that he should carry with him nothing prohibited 
by the State. His son Thomas, who " went into Arundel 
Castle when held against the Parliament, but never bore 
arms, nor assisted the king's party," was fined at one-tenth, 
230. 

Sir John Shelley, of Michelgrove, a "recusant Papist," 
died in 1641, and was succeeded by his grandson Charles, 
then three years old, who was taken abroad by his grand- 
mother. In 1645 the Committee for the Advance of Money 
received information that much treasure, plate, money, etc., 
belonging to the late Sir John Shelley, a recusant, was 
walled up and concealed in his home at Michelgrove, and 
made an order that it be sought for and brought away and 
used for the service of the state, with leave to break down 
walls, and break open or dig in any place suspected. 2 The 
same Committee was informed in 1649 that Sir Charles 
was born and bred up in the Romish religion and was now 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1960. 

2 Cal. Com. for Advance of Money, 2nd April 1645. 



THE ROYALIST LANDLORDS 133 

beyond the seas. His estate in Sussex, Kent, and Warwick- 
shire was worth 3,000 a year, and Col. James Temple, 
M.P., held it as bailiff or guardian, but had rendered no 
account of it to the state. 1 As the estate was not sequestered, 
there does not appear to be any reason why he should have 
done so. In the matter of a certain farm sequestered as 
having belonged to Colonel Henry Shelley, " who was in 
the wars," Colonel Temple represented in 1650 that Sir 
Charles Shelley, being only thirteen years could not be 
called a Papist, as none were Papists under sixteen, that he 
was not Popishly, educated, and frequented church. 2 In 
1651, Sir Charles, by his guardian, petitioned to enjoy the 
goods formerly sequestered ; it appeared that they were 
valued at 200, and consisted of linen, bed-furniture > 
Turkey work, carpets and hangings, and at the beginning 
of the troubles had been hidden in a chimney near the 
kitchen. 3 There is no further mention of any plate. 

The Committee for Advance of Money which sat at 
Haberdashers' Hall seems occasionally to have overstepped 
its proper function of levying a tax of one-twentieth on real, 
and one-fifth on personal property without distinction of 
party, and assumed the powers of the Committee for Com- 
pounding. In April 1645, an information was laid before it by 
Sir Robert Harlow, concerning John Butt, Thomas Pierce, 
and Edward Tremblett, all of " Bozom," near Chichester. 
It was alleged that in December 1642, the King's garrison 
being at Chichester, Tremblett and Pierce took John Mills, 
sent by the militia of London to Sir William Waller, as 
prisoner; railed at him as a Roundhead carrying letters for 
Parliament against the King ; and sent for some Cavaliers to 
secure him and have him hanged at Chichester; but a friend 
of his sent to Waller for a party to redeem him, and that 
party arriving first he escaped. It was further alleged that 
all three were still in arms against the Parliament; and an 

1 Cal. Com. for Advance of Money, 2nd November 1649. 
* Cal. Com. for Compounding, 2370. 3 Ibid.) 2371. 



134 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

order was made for seizing and securing their estates. 1 In 
December 1645, Thomas Peirce of Bosham, yeoman, applied 
to the Committee for Compounding to compound for delin- 
quency, having been in arms against the Parliament with 
Sir E. Ford at Chichester. He had long since taken the 
Covenant. Fine 20* Edward Tremlett, of Bosham, was 
fined 40 at the same time. 3 

Time sometimes works strange coincidences. In 1650, 
Peter Courthope of Isfield, Sussex, high-sheriff of the 
county, petitioned the Committee to recognize his claim to 
the Manor of Lamborn Hall, in Essex, which Sir William 
Campion of Combwell, in Kent, had sold to him for 
1,700, whereof 1,400 or 1,500 went in payment of his 
fine. The claim was recognized in 1652 on payment of 
8 1 .* I n 1 65 2 Peter Courthope bought the estate of Danny, 
Sussex, from the assignees of George Goring, Earl of Norwich. 
Henry Campion, grandson of Sir William, married Barbara, 
daughter and heiress of Peter Courthope, of Danny (grand- 
son of the aforesaid Peter Courthope), by his wife Phila- 
delphia, daughter of Sir John Stapley, Bart, of Patcham. 6 

Sir William Campion was fined 1,354 on gth October 
1646, being one-tenth of his estate, on Borstall Articles. 6 
The receipt for the payment of half this fine, here repro- 
duced, is in the possession of his descendant, Colonel 
Campion, C.B., of Combwell and Danny. 

1 Cal. Com. for Advance of Money, 544. 

2 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1063. 3 Ibid., 1065. 
* Ibid., 1450. s Pedigree of Campion. S. A. C., x, 34. 
6 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1450. 



REfeit'tdfy <, Richard VVanng*WMr 
c ! > a t- 1 1 1 e r r i n g, Trcafnrcrs / /Ar M0zr/c ' 

. * T* * -^ 



' "' - *- ' *' 

"' 




Ni in tit Count) c 

y4 ^v^i l 

<t > r - .-- \*X+\+* fX, 

,rv ,..'^, ^y 0/y<s4^ f^. JkP*X' 

'*J~imp9fcJpo*l -;i 
mmern 44 4 Pint fir hit Delia- \ 

-i'.wfl. Wet fay Ttecttvttl. [ 

\ 

U* ^i 

/ 













RECEIPT FOR K1NE IMPOSED ON SIR WILLIAM CAMPION. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 

BAD as was the plight of the Royalist gentry, the Royalist 
clergy suffered still more severely. Thegentleman might 
sell or mortgage part of his estate, or cut his timber to pay 
his fine ; but the clergyman, deprived of his cure, not only 
lost his livelihood, but frequently was unable to earn it in 
any other way. The Cathedral Chapters and some other of 
the more important clergy very soon fell into the clutch of 
the sequestrating committees, who, not content with strip- 
ping them of their preferments, laid hands on their private 
estates. At Chichester, the estate of the Bishop, Henry 
King, was sequestered, and it does not appear that it was 
ever admitted to composition. The Dean, Dr. Bruno Ryves, 
had joined the King at Oxford after the fall of Chicheste^ 
and on 5th December 1646 begged to compound on Oxford 
Articles for delinquency in being there when it was sur- 
rendered. He was fined at one-tenth, 20. Being required 
to take the Covenant and the Negative Oath, he prayed 
exemption on the ground that a dispensation from both 
was granted to all included in Oxford Articles. 1 Dr. William 
Cox, the precentor, was at Exeter when it fell, and was fined 
on Exeter Articles one-tenth, ,169? Dr. Joseph Henshaw, 
a prebendary, also compounded on Exeter Articles, and 
was fined 177? Dr. William Oughtred, another prebend- 
ary, a Fellow of Eton, and an eminent mathematician, is 

' Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1593. 2 Ibid., 1299. 

3 Ibid., 1366. 

135 



136 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

said to have died of excess of joy at the age of eighty-six, 
when he heard of the restoration of the monarchy. 1 Thomas 
Hooke, Clerk, of Chichester, compounded in 1649 for de- 
linquency in going into Oxford, then a garrison for the 
King, and was fined at one-third, 14.0* John Edsawe, 
Clerk, of Chayley, compounded on Oxford Articles and 
was fined at one-tenth, 4.0? 

Soon after the outbreak of War, on 7th December 1642, 
the Parliament appointed a Committee to provide benefices 
for such of the Puritan clergy as had been driven from their 
livings by the King's forces. This Committee in its first 
resolution defined its duties as follows: "To consider of 
the fittest way for the relief of such godly and well affected 
ministers as have been plundered and likewise to consider 
what malignant persons have benefices whose livings being 
sequestered there may others supply their cures and receive 
the profits." Six months later it assumed the further power 
to consider informations against scandalous ministers, though 
no malignancy was proved against them, and on proof of 
scandal to put out such as were of scandalous life. This 
Committee, " the Committee of Plundered Ministers " as it 
was called, gradually acquired a practical supervision of the 
financial side of ecclesiastical affairs, and if a tithe of the 
allegations against it are true, it did a good deal of plunder- 
ing on its own account. 4 At first Parliament did not dele- 
gate all control of such matters to the Committee. In 
December 1642 the inhabitants of Horsham sent up a 
petition asserting that one Mr. Conyers, who had been pre- 
sented to that parish by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
was a " disserving " man and unfit for the place, and the 

1 S. A. C., v, 52. - Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1972. 

3 Ibid., 1568. 

4 The Proceedings of this Committee are contained in three MS. 
books, B.M. Add. MSS. 15669, 15670, 15671. The entries relating to 
Sussex were collected by Mr. F. G. Sawyer and printed in S. A. C., 
xxx and xxxi. 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 137 

House of Lords ordered that the Archbishop should have 
notice that the House did not approve of the presentation. 1 
Before the Civil War broke out it had been a common 
practice for parishes which were dissatisfied with the minis- 
trations of their incumbents to maintain lecturers of their 
own, and it seems that these lecturers frequently obtained 
the livings of the dispossessed " malignant " clergy. The 
inhabitants of Horsham now sent a further petition that 
Mr. Chatfield, " a godly and painful preacher," their own 
lecturer, who had spent his time and taken great pains 
among them, should be appointed in Mr. Conyer's place. 
Parliament thereupon appointed Mr. Chatfield, and named 
a Committee of the inhabitants, including Thomas Middle- 
ton, Hall Ravenscroft, James Gratwick, Thomas White 
and others, to sequestrate the vicarage and pay the tithes 
to him. 

The Committee of Plundered Ministers was, in a sense, 
a complementary body to the Westminster Assembly of 
Divines, established by Act of Parliament in October 1642 
with the object of reforming the Church of England on the 
lines of Presbyterianism. The Sussex members of this 
Assembly were Dr. Francis Cheynell of Oxford, after- 
wards Rector of Petworth, Mr. Benjamin Pickering 2 of 
East Hoathley, and Mr. Henry Nye of Clapham. The last- 
named did not appear, and John Maynard, Vicar of May- 
field, was added by Parliament. The two bodies seem to 
have worked together in- the task of filling the country 
vicarages with Puritan incumbents, and in Sussex Dr. Chey- 
nell was particularly active. 

1 House of Lords MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., v), 61. See Hunt's 
History of Horsham, p. 12. 

2 Mr. Pickering was a preacher of some eminence. He received the 
thanks of the House of Commons for a sermon preached at St. 
Margaret's, Westminster, on 27th November 1644 ; and it was ordered 
to be printed. " A Firebrand pluckt out of the burning. By Benjamin 
Pikering, Minister of Gods Word at Buckstead in Sussex; and a 
Member of the Assembly of Divines. London 1645." 



138 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

The Central Committee appointed local committees in 
various counties to assist it in its work. The original Sussex 
Committee appears to have consisted of twenty members, 
all laymen, and chiefly Members of Parliament for the 
county and its boroughs. It was empowered to inquire " by 
the oaths of twelve lawful men" of the following offences: 
" Not preaching the word of God six times at least in the 
space of one whole year by any ecclesiastical person or 
persons under the age of sixty years, having cure of souls, 
and not being thereunto letted by sickness or imprison- 
ment; or of blasphemy, wilful and corrupt perjury, and 
subordination of perjury, fornication, adultery, common 
alehouse or tavern haunting, common drunkenness, common 
profane swearing and cursing." 

The county committees seem to have been subdivided, 
and we find committees sitting at Lewes, Chichester, 
Battle, and Brambletye. According to Walker (Sufferings 
of the Clergy, p. 118) the local committees consisted of 
not more than ten or less than five persons, who each 
received five shillings a day for attendance. They were 
" directed to take depositions of witnesses without the 
accused being present, but if he desired it they were to let 
him have a copy of the accusation at his own charge." 

It was inevitable that in the bitterness of the struggle, 
most bitter of course on the religious side, much hardship 
should be caused, and injustice suffered by ministers of 
both parties. Dr. Cheynell himself asserts l that he was 
driven from his own house by force of arms, only (as the 
Cavaliers confessed) because he was nominated to be a 
member of the Westminster Assembly not a very in- 
sufficient reason, one would suppose, from the Cavalier 
point of view. He speaks of "the visitation of Merton 
College, the denial of my grace, the plundering of my house 
and little library," and he boasts " I have not yet learnt 

1 Chillingworthi Novissima. 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 139 

how to plunder others of goods or living, and make myself 
amends by force of arms. I will not take a living which 
belonged to any civil, studious, learned Delinquent, unless 
it be the much neglected Commendam of some Lordly 
Prelate condemned by the known laws of the land, and the 
highest court of the kingdom for some offence of the first 
magnitude." In the rich living of Petworth, which had been 
previously attached to the bishopric of Chichester, he was 
fortunate enough to find an agreeable ministry which did 
not violate his principles. 

It was some slight mitigation of the lot of the clergyman 
who was ejected from his living as a Royalist, or as attached 
to Episcopacy or the Book of Common Prayer, and was 
thus deprived at one sweep of his livelihood, that a fifth of 
his late income was payable to his wife and children for 
their support by the incumbent who had succeeded him. 
This fifth was often grudgingly paid, and the payment 
could only be enforced by an appeal to the Committee of 
Plundered Ministers, or its local deputy, and although the 
Committee seems often to have insisted on the payment, it 
sometimes decided otherwise on a view of what appear 
irrelevant circumstances. Thus on 24th May 1645, the 
Committee took into consideration the case of the wife of 
Mr. Peckham, whose vicarage of Horsted Parva had been 
sequestered; and it having appeared that she had shown 
contempt of the sequestration by keeping possession of the 
house till she was expelled from it, and had " committed 
much wilful spoil upon the said house"; and further that 
the living was but small, and that Mr. Peckham practised 
physic and farmed land worth 18 a year, the Committee 
thought fit to relieve the living of the charge of one-fifth, 
and discharged Mr. Bigge, who had succeeded Mr. Peck- 
ham, from the payment thereof. 1 

On the other hand Mrs. Ballow, wife of the ejected vicar 

1 S. A. C., xxx, 1 20. 



140 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

of Seaford-cum-Sutton, after much difficulty and expense 
obtained an order from the Committee in London requii- 
ing Mr. Saxby, to whom the living was sequestered, to pay 
the fifth part to her, and requesting the County Committee 
to set out and apportion the same, which the latter accord- 
ingly did, and allotted Mrs. Ballow 8 a year. 1 

In spite of this provision the families of the ejected 
clergy must frequently have endured great suffering. The 
quiver was too often full. It was fortunate for Mr. John 
Boulte, who was inducted to the vicarage of Eastbourne in 
1648, that he was on the winning side, for he was "blessed 
with 29 children by two wives." 2 Mr. Halsey, Rector of 
East Dean, was turned out of his living " on a pretence of 
insufficiency," and his family of nine children were only 
saved from starvation by the fact that he possessed some 
small property in London ; notwithstanding which, a 
daughter of his complained to a gentleman that she was 
glad to feed on half an egg. " The poor man came with 
tears in his eyes and fell on his knees to Cheynell (that 
monstrous composition and villain) and desired the favour 
of him to let him teach an English school at a penny a 
week for each child for the support of his family ; but was 
by the monster denied so reasonable a request." 3 

Cheynell was the b$te noire of the Royalist clergy, and 
post-Restoration references to him must be accepted with 
caution. That he left no stone unturned to secure the most 
important vicarages for his own adherents is no doubt true, 
but for the charges of dishonesty and conspiracy brought 
against him there is probably no foundation. Hoadley, a 
great Whig bishop of the eighteenth century, said of him : 
" He was exactly orthodox, and as pious, honest, and charit- 
able as his bigotry would permit." 4 

1 S. A. C., xxx, 132. 

2 Ibid., xxix, 206. See also iv, 267. 

3 Walker's MSS., Bodleian Library. 

4 Neal, History of the Puritans, iv, 395. 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 141 

Thus the account of the ejection of Mr. Apsley, Rector 
of Pulborough, contained in a letter of Mr. Newcomb, a 
later Rector, 1 seems somewhat exaggerated. It is stated 
that Dr. Cheynell, " sole judge in all matters ecclesiastical," 
sent for and commanded him to give an account of his 
election to himself and " four more elders " ; Mr. Apsley, 
knowing their design, framed such an answer that they had 
nothing to object against him, and so for a time dismissed 
him. But his living being worth 4.00 a year, Cheynell was 
resolved to turn him out on some pretext or other. Having 
received information that Mr. Apsley had been seen in a 
public ale-house at Stopham bridge, they summoned him a 
second time on the accusation of being a common drinker 
and a scandalous liver, and without being permitted to 
make any answer, he was thrown out of his living to the 
almost utter ruin of his family. This story, written some 
sixty years after the event, does not carry the weight of 
contemporary evidence. 

We do not often hear of personal violence to the clergy, 
but Mr. Oliver Whitby, who acted as curate to the Bishop 
of Chichester at Petworth, is an exception. According to 
Walker, 2 " being a loyalist he was often in danger of his life 
by the fanatics, one of whom shot at him with a pistol 
while he was preaching in Petworth pulpit, but missed him ; 
upon which to avoid further danger he escaped to a poor 
house nigh Petworth, and lived there six months privately. 
But being discovered by the rebels, he was forced to take 
his lodging in a hollow tree, which the old woman had 
shewed him, and there fed by her a long time on pretence 
of her going to gather wood. He lived in great want until 
the Restoration, and was then preferred in Chichester 
Church." 

There can be little doubt that some of the dispossessed 
clergy richly deserved their fate. In his Century of 

1 Walker's MSS., iii, 875-6. 

2 Sufferings of the Clergy, App., p. 424. 



142 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Malignant Priests, 1 Colonel John White included the in- 
cumbents of Horsted Parva, Dallington, Ardingley, Arun- 
del, Cliffe, Storrington, East Grinstead, and Arlington. 
Allowing for the exaggeration of partisan animus, there 
was probably a serious case against each of them, and the 
evidence is at any rate contemporary. " The benefice of 
John Peckham, rector of the Parish Church of Horsted 
Parva in the County of Sussex, who giveth out that he is 
the King's Chaplain, is sequestered, for that he hath been 
very negligent in his cure, absenting himself from his par- 
ishioners, sometimes a whole month together, without 
leaving any to officiate for him, and hath refused to admin- 
ister the Lord's Supper to those of his Parish that would 
not come up to the rails, and is a common drunkard, and 
notorious adulterer and unclean person . . ., and hath ex- 
pressed great malignity against the Parliament and pro- 
ceedings thereof, and hath affirmed publickly that a man 
might live in murder, adultery and other gross sins from 
day to day, and yet be a true penitent person." At Ard- 
ingley Richard Taunton's benefice was sequestered " for 
that he is a common drunkard and ale-house haunter, and 

1 "The first Century of Scandalous Malignant Priests made and 
admitted into benefices by the Prelates in whose hands the ordination 
of ministers and the government of the Church hath been ; or a narra- 
tion of the causes for which the Parliament hath ordered the seques- 
tration of the benefices of several ministers complained of before them, 
for vitiousness of life, errors in doctrines contrary to the articles of 
our religion, and for practising and pressing superstitious innovations 
against the law, and for malignancy against the Parliament. Ordered 
to be printed by the Committee of the House of Commons, Nov. 
1643." Colonel John White, known as "Century White" was Chair- 
man of the Committee to inquire into the immoralities of the Clergy. 
An inscription on his tombstone in the Temple states : 

" Here lies a John, a burning shining light, 
Whose name life actions all alike were white." 

He was the grandfather of Susannah, mother of John and Charles 
Wesley. 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 143 

in his sermons hath wished, that every knee might rot that 
would not bow at the name of Jesus." l At East Grinstead 
the benefice of Richard Goffe was sequestered " for that he 
is a common haunter of taverns and alehouses, a common 
swearer of bloody oaths, and singer of bawdy songs and 
often drunk, and keepeth company with papists and scan- 
dalous persons, and hath confessed that he chiefly studied 
popish authors, highly commended Queen Mary's time, and 
disparaged Queen Elizabeth's, as an enemy to learning, 
and hoped to see the time again that there should be no 
Bible in men's houses. And hath openly preached that such 
as go to other parish churches than their own are in the 
state of damnation, and that after the bread and wine of 
the sacrament is consecrated it is no more bread and wine 
but the body and blood of Christ. And in a funeral sermon 
at the burial of a woman said that she being regenerated 
in baptism did live and die without sin ; and hath expressed 
great malignity against the Parliament, saying that he 
hoped to see it confounded, and that he cared not a fig for 
the Parliament." 2 It may be, as suggested by Walker, 3 
that the last remark was his chief offence. 

The sequestrating committee was on less sure ground 
when it came to consider accusations of " inadequacy." Mr. 
John Nutt's living of Bexhill was sequestrated for that he 
lived " wholly non-resident to the church and in his ab- 
sence substituted to officiate for him scandalous and un- 
worthy curates." 4 Sometimes the charge recoiled on those 
who brought it. The aged Dr. Aquila Cruso, having lost 
his Prebendary stall in Chichester Cathedral, " by the in- 
iquitie of those times in the common ship-wreck of the 
Church," was visited in his rectory of Sutton, near Pet- 
worth, by three " noted triers " to examine his sufficiency 
They begged him to give an account of his faith in writing, 

1 Century of Malignant Priests, 43. 

2 Ibid., 88. 3 Sufferings of the Clergy, ii, 257. 
4 S. A. C., xxx, 1 17. 



144 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

whereupon he wrote it in Greek and Hebrew, which none 
of them could understand. " It was thought they suffered 
him to continue in his living, because he was then about 
seventy years of age, and could not live much longer. 
Neither could they with any colour of truth fix a charge of 
insufficiency upon him, whose faith soared in a sphere 
above their capacity." l Dr. Cruso disappointed his enemies 
by living until November 1660. 

The most important case in this connection is that of 
Mr. John Large, Rector of Rotherfield. The benefice was 
worth 300 a year, 2 and it was a joke of the time that Mr. 
Large was ejected not on account of his bad life, but for 
his good living. It was alleged afterwards that the proceed- 
ings against him were the result of a conspiracy between 
Dr. Cheynell and one Vintner, who were overheard to say 
that as they could not sequester Mr. Large for immorality 
they would do so for insufficiency. Mr. Vintner seems to 
have emulated the rapid conversion of the Vicar of Bray. 
In 1651 he was inducted to the living of Cowfold, 3 the 
patron being the " Hon. Col. Jn. Downes Esq." * At the 
Restoration he is reported to have preached as follows : " It 
is said the Common Prayer must be read again in our 
churches, but I do assure you that if there was a gallows 
erected in that place, and the Common Prayer book laid in 
this desk, I would choose to be trussed up on that gallows 
before ever I would read the Common Prayer." But he 
thought better of it, and conformed. In 1673 he obtained 
the " fat benefice " of Rotherfield, " where in his old age in 
King James II's reign he was preparing for another turn, 
even to Rome itself, if times had held, and previous to it 

1 Walker's MSS. 

2 "As late as 1675 tne rector of Rotherfield kept a woodward or 
keeper for the 366 acres of wood pertaining to the rectorial manor " 
(Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 324). 

3 S. A. C., xxxi, 194. 

4 " Recruiter," M.P. for Arundel, a regicide. 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 145 

began to give out he never knew before that the papists 
had such good reasons for their religion." l 

Mr. Large himself alleged in his defence that the articles 
of accusation were presented against him " not so much 
through his demerits as through a secret plot and combina- 
tion of John Russell, Edward Russell and John Calle, who 
having a minister to their kinsman wanting a living (brother 
unto two of them and nephew to the third) have used his 
help and assistance in drawing up these articles against 
him." In his long and interesting defence 2 he replies 
seriatim to the charges brought against him. This valuable 
document, which affords a remarkable picture of the re- 
ligious life of the time, may be summarized as follows: 

(1) He was presented to the living by a citizen of 
London, to whom the advowson had been lawfully passed 
long previously by Lord Abergavenny; he denied any 
intimate correspondence with Papists, whose errors he was 
known to hate, and to refute in his sermons as occasion 
offered; the like also concerning scandalous ministers, 
whose company he neither enjoyed nor desired. 

(2) He had constantly had two sermons preached by 
himself or his curate every Lord's day, except between 
November and February. In the summer his accusers had 
seldom or never attended in the afternoon to hear the 
sermon. In the shortest days of winter he had usually 
preached but once a day; not (as his accusers would sug- 
gest) to spare his own pains, but for the convenience of his 
parishioners, many of whom dwelt three or four miles or 
more from the church, and in those very short days were 
unable to come thither again in the afternoon. At those 
times therefore he had been in the habit of joining both his 
sermons for the day together, and seldom or never preached 
for less than two hours, so that those who dwelt far off 
might have the benefit of the whole day's exercise as well 

1 S. A. C., xxxi, 185. 2 Printed in S. A. C., xxxi, 173-7. 

L 



146 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

as the others. Yet notwithstanding this " double taste " in 
the morning, whenever he had seen any considerable num- 
ber at church in the afternoon, he had not omitted to 
preach then also. And in his sermons he had delivered 
nothing but sound and orthodox doctrine, and that also in 
a manner suited to the capacities of the people, who all 
(except his accusers) generally professed to have derived 
no small comfort and edification thereby. 

(3) The monthly fasts had ever been solemnly observed 
by him ; but he had usually delivered all his meditations 
for the day together, and so preached longer in the fore- 
noons, the reason being that in the morning he found him- 
self more fresh and able to perform a double exercise, than 
to reserve part till the afternoon, when through fasting all 
day he had frequently found himself faint and feeble. 

(4) He had kept all days appointed by Order of Parlia- 
ment, except one thanksgiving of which he never knew or 
heard till the day was past. 

(5) No warrant or other matter sent by the Parliament 
and directed to be read by the minister had ever been left 
unpublished. He had ever been forward, both by his ready 
contribution to all taxes and by his careful furnishing of 
those arms wherewith he was charged, to do his best en- 
deavour for the safety of the county and the kingdom ; and 
he had advised others to do the same. 

(6) The unjust aspersion that he was a neuter or a 
" close enemy " to the State was only the uncharitable 
judgement of his accusers. He had produced a certificate 
and testimonial signed by over two hundred of the chief 
inhabitants, there being but few more householders in the 
parish. He had striven to live peaceably with all men, and 
had endeavoured often to gain the friendship of his 
accusers, 

(7) In addition to the solemn taking and giving of the 
Covenant, as attested in the above-mentioned testimonial, 
he had publicly read the Covenant and the Exhortation 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 147 

and obtained the signatures of the whole parish there- 
unto. 

(8) In his most secret desires he had ever been a hearty 
well wisher to Reformation, but had been fearful of him- 
self to innovate or alter anything established; any orders 
from the Parliament or others in authority he would be one 
of the first and forwardest to observe. 

(9) He had permitted Mr. Goffe of East Grinstead to 
preach in his parish. Mr. Goffe was not at that time se- 
questered, and he did not know him to be obnoxious or 
offensive to any one. 

(10) He had not himself appointed his Curate, and until 
this accusation he had no complaint concerning him. 

Mr. Large's defence seems to have availed him nothing. 
He was further accused of "being a profane Sabbath- 
breaker in collecting tithes on the Lord's day, and of 
being superstitiously inclined for breaking a cake over a 
bride's head," and was sequestrated. 1 

The Puritans were engaged in the endeavour to con- 
struct a new heaven and a new earth. In such a revolution, 
as in actual warfare, injustice may be done, and hardship 
is inevitably caused to innocent individuals. But it is im- 
possible to-day to form a satisfying judgement on such a 
case as that of Mr. Large. The very fervour with which 
post-Restoration parsons wrote 2 of the excellence of his 
character, the base intrigues of his accusers, and the mer- 
cenary motives of his judges, has a suspicious ring. It sug- 
gests that perhaps Mr. Large was not so very earnest a 
friend of the Parliament he professed to serve, and that 
Cheynell may have been perfectly honest in his efforts to 
get rid of a secret enemy. If Cheynell's methods were 
devious (there is no real evidence that they were), that 
would be nothing new in the history of religious bigotry. 

We have drifted so far from the ideal of the English 

1 Walker, Sufferings, ii, 279. 

2 Walker's MSS. ; S. A. C., xxxi, 178-185. 



148 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Puritans " a practical world based on Belief in God, such 
as many centuries had seen before, but as never any cen- 
tury since has been privileged to see " l we comprehend so 
little of their ways of thought, that the inclination of man- 
kind to distrust and dislike what it does not understand 
asserts itself continually. We have been trained in a repug- 
nance towards the habitual expression of the facts of the 
world in the terms of religion, and this repugnance tends 
to warp our historical judgement of those who used no other 
language. We may do well to bear in mind Carlyle's ad- 
vice, " by no means to credit the wide-spread report that 
these seventeenth-century Puritans were superstitious crack- 
brained persons ; given up to enthusiasm, the most part of 
them ; the minor ruling part being cunning men, who knew 
how to assume the dialect of the others, and thereby, as 
skilful Macchiavels, to dupe them. This is a wide-spread 
report; but an untrue one." 

It was not only at the hands of the Committee of Plun- 
dered Ministers that the clergy of Royalist and Episcopalian 
sympathies suffered. As in the counties which stood to the 
King, and in the University of Oxford, the Puritan clergy 
were driven from their livings and employments, which 
was, as we have seen, the prime occasion of the Committee's 
appointment; so in Puritan Sussex an unsympathetic 
soldiery was disposed to make short work of " malignant " 
ministers. A Royalist account of certain proceedings at 
Hastings of this nature has come down to us, and there is 
no reason to suppose that its statements are, in the main, 
otherwise than true. It is related 2 that on the morning of 
Sunday, 9th July 1643, in time of divine service, Colonel 
Morley, described by the narrator as " the crooked rebel of 
Sussex," proceeded towards Hastings. Mr. Hinson, the 
curate of All Saints', was informed of his coming, and 
being aware that one end of the Colonel's Sabbath-day's 

1 Carlyle, Cromwell, Intro., v. 
- Mercurius Rusticus, p. 141. 



THE SUFFERINGS OF THE CLERGY 149 

journey was to apprehend him, broke off divine service in 
the midst, and fled into a neighbouring wood to hide him- 
self. The Colonel occupied the town with his body of 
horse, secured the gates, and summoned the mayor and 
jurats. He demanded that all arms in the town should be 
given up to him, and having procured a waggon from one 
of the jurats, Fray by name, sent them away to Battle. 
That night some of the soldiers lay in Mr. Hinson's church, 
and one Wicker, a common soldier, got up into the pulpit 
and preached to his fellows. To show the fruits of his 
doctrine, either the preacher or one of his auditors stole 
the surplice. The parish clerk complained of this theft to 
their Captain, Richard Cockeram of Rye, but all the 
answer he got was : " Do not you think he loves a smock 
as well as you?" 

Colonel Morley now levied a money contribution from 
the townsmen, Mr. Car, the parson of St. Clement's, and 
Mr. Hinson being particularly specified. Mr. Car was not 
at home, having fled at the news of Morley's approach, but 
hearing of his departure for Battle, and thinking the storm 
to be now blown over, he returned, and narrowly escaped 
arrest by Morley's agents. Mr. Hinson was less fortunate. 
Returning on Tuesday, he was arrested and confined in 
the Town Hall, where his friends did not dare to visit him 
for fear of being imprisoned themselves. A maid-servant* 
who was accused of having carried letters from him, denied 
having done so; whereupon she was told by one Barlow, 
" a factious schismatic, who because heretofore his neigh- 
bours of Hastings refused to concur with him in petitioning 
against Episcopacy, joined and subscribed with those of 
Rye," that she deserved to be put into the Ducking-house, 
a prison for women, for denying it. Next day Mr. Hinson 
was removed to the common gaol, and locked up in a most 
loathsome place, where there was but one short bench, and 
no company but a tinker. The tinker was " none of the 
jovialest," but a stubborn, sullen fellow, who, pleading 



150 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

seniority in the place, took possession of the bench, and 
" most unsociably kept it all night." After three weeks' 
imprisonment, on the intercession of Master Besanno, a 
Counsellor-at-Law, Mr. Hinson was sent up to London 
under a strong guard, whence he escaped to Oxford, and 
put himself under the King's protection. 




SIR WILLIAM WALLER. 



CHAPTER X 

THE CLUBMEN 

TO return to Arundel. On the very day that Waller 
took possession of the castle, a large Spanish vessel, 
the St. James of Dunkirk, was stranded at Heene, " near 
Arundel." Heene is now a western suburb of Worthing, 
and is distant from Arundel about ten miles. It appeared 
that she had been chased by some Dutch men-of-war, and, 
to avoid capture, had tried to make either for the river 
Arun or the port of Shoreham. One account says that she 
actually entered the Arun, and took the ground within half 
a mile of Arundel Castle ; l another that she lay " at a 
place called Shoarum"; 2 but these statements were prob- 
ably due to the imagination of journalists in London, who 
did not know where Heene was. Waller promptly took 
possession of the ship, and went on board himself. He 
reported the matter in a letter to the House, written at 
Broadwater, close to Heene, on 8th January, and asked for 
directions. 3 The Sf. James mounted 24 brass guns, and 
contained 100 barrels of powder, and 2,000 arms, supposed 
to be for the use of " the English-Irish that make havoc in 
Cheshire," together with a great quantity of linen cloth. 
Several Cavalier officers and persons of quality were on 

' Mercurius Civicus, nth January 1644. This error is copied by 
Mr. Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, and by Mr. Hillier, The Sieges 
of Arundel Castle; even by Mr. Blaauw, S. A. C., v. 

1 The True Informer, I3th January 1644. 

3 House of Commons Journals, loth January 1644. 



152 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

board. The value of the ship and cargo was estimated 
to be 50,000 at least. 1 In reply to Waller's letter, the 
House ordered him to secure the ship ; that the goods in 
her should be safely stored in Arundel Castle, and none of 
them embezzled or disposed of until it be known whether 
she were prize; that the soldiers be assured that if she 
proved prize they should receive a reward out of her; that 
inventories of her lading should be made and sent up to 
the Court of Admiralty and to the House. 

This reply was no doubt a disappointment to Waller, 
who then wrote to the House setting forth the condition of 
his army and his prisoners, and requesting that the pro- 
ceeds of the goods in the Dunkirk ship should be applied 
to pay the arrears due to his soldiers. But the House 
ordered that the goods should be re- shipped, and the vessel 
brought round to London ; and that the Committee of the 
Navy, and the judge of the Court of Admiralty do take care 
for the speedy dispatch of the business. A letter was sent to 
Waller thanking him for his care in the matter. 2 

But there was no more " speedy dispatch " than is usual 
in such cases. A month later Messrs. Maurice Thompson 
and Co. laid an arrest on the ship " for reparation to be 
made to them for damages sustained by the Dunkirkers." s 
In August the House considered the matter, and also a 
representation from the Spanish Ambassador on the sub- 
ject, and it was referred to the Committee of the Navy to 
decide what allowance should be made to Sir William 
Waller's soldiers for salvage and conservation of the ship 
and goods. 4 The result was that a sum of 4,000 was 
awarded to Sir William Waller and his forces, and the ship 
and her cargo were handed over to the Spanish Ambassador. 3 
Waller's own share of the salvage was 700, and " a little 

1 The Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer, i6th February 1644. 

- House of Commons Journals, i$th January 1644. 
3 Ibid., loth February 1644. 

* Ibid., 22nd August 1644. 5 Ibid., 4th October 1644. 



THE CLUBMEN 153 

painted cabinet and some toys, worth 12 or 14." were 
presented to his wife by some of the merchants owning the 
cargo, as a token of their thankfulness for the care he had 
taken to preserve their goods. 1 It was no doubt only the 
presence of Waller's army which had saved the vessel from 
plunder. Not many years before, similar wrecks had 
occurred, as related in letters of Sir W. Covert. 

November 1629. " From Slaugham. A Dunkirk ship 
was driven ashore at Worthing by the States men-of-war, 
the crew of 66 were saved, but the country people accord- 
ing to their inhuman custom had seized the goods and 
spoilt the ship." 

February 1630. "From Slaugham to the Lords Lieu- 
tenant, the Earls of Arundel and Dorset. Another ship of 
Dunkirk has been chased on shore at Brighthelmstone, the 
inhabitants have saved the ordnance, and ask to keep 
them." * 

Fifty years later the Sussex attitude towards wrecks was 
satirized by Congreve: 

As Sussex men, that dwell upon the shore, 
Look out when storms arise and billows roar, 
Devoutly praying with uplifted hands, 
That some well-laden ship may strike the sands, 
To whose rich cargo they may make pretence 
And fatten on the spoils of Providence." 3 

Great scandal was caused among earnest Puritans by 
some of the pictures found in the St. James. A large pic- 
ture of the betrothal of St. Ursula, painted for the church 
of Sta. Anna at Seville, was considered to have a political 
import. On 5th June 1644, Colonel Herbert Morley wrote 
from Arundel to the Speaker: " Amongst the goods taken 
from the Dunkirk ships we have found certain pictures 
which contain most gross idolatry; upon one, the Trinity 

1 Waller's Vindication. 2 S. A. C., xlviii, 1 5. 

:! Epilogue to The Mourning Bride. 



154 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

pictured in monstrous shapes like giants; upon another is 
painted the Virgin Mary as sitting in heaven with her babe 
in her arms, underneath is the Pope, on whose left hand 
stands our King perfectly limned and completely armed, 
with his cavaliers attending him ; on the Pope's right hand 
stands the Queen, accompanied with her ladies; the King 
tenders his sceptre to the Queen, she accepts it not, but 
directs it to be delivered to the Pope. This picture was 
intended to be set up in the chief church of Seville, in 
Spain, as appears by the direction on the outside of the 
box in which it is enclosed. I look upon this picture as an 
hieroglyphic of the causes and intents of our present 
troubles, and the opinion of the neighbouring nations con- 
cerning them, and if the House please to command the 
picture to London, and there permit it to the public view, 
I conceive 'twould very much convince the malignants, and 
open the eyes of all that are not wilfully blind." l 

The picture was sent up to London, as Morley suggested, 
and exhibited in the Star Chamber. A rather ridiculous 
controversy of pamphleteers arose as to its significance, in 
which the Royalist side had distinctly the best. At Oxford, 
on 8th July 1644, was published a pamphlet entitled The 
Sea-Gull, or the new apparition in the Star-Chamber at 
Westminster. Being a true and accurate description of a 
large picture, exposed to public view, lively representing 
the story of Conanus and Ursula (taken out of the Golden 
Legend) most grossely mistaken for His Majesties tendring 
the Scepter of his Kingdomes into the hands of the Queene 
and Pope. 2 The writer tells at some length the story of 
Conanus and Ursula, and urges that the picture was meant 
to represent their affiancing. " Thousands," he says, " have 
already swallowed this sea-gull . . . the picture itself was 
made by one Gerarde de la Valle at Antwerp, as is exprest 
in the bottom thereof, and intended to be set up in Saint 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 178. 

2 B.M., Thomason tracts: pressmark E. 54 (4). 



THE CLUBMEN 155 

Anne's Church in Seville in Spain, as appears by the super- 
scription (upon the wooden case wherein this picture drawn 
on cloth was rolled up, when it was taken near Arundel 
Haven about Christmas last, in a ship belonging to one 
Devoes, a merchant in Flanders). In which church, and 
the like hallowed places, no pictures, or images of the living, 
but only of departed saints canonized are hanged up. Unto 
which Romanists perform an inferior kind of religious 
worship. 

" Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici ?" 

This argument might fitly have been considered un- 
answerable; but it provoked a rather feeble rejoinder: 
The Sussex picture, or an Answer to the Sea-gull. 
London printed by F. N. July 29 1644.* The title is 
adorned with a rude cut of the three chief figures of the 
picture, which serves to support the Oxford writer's con- 
tention. The central figure wears a bishop's mitre, not the 
triple Papal crown; the gentleman on his left bears little 
resemblance to Charles, and the lady to whom he tenders 
a sceptre none whatever to Henrietta Maria. But the 
writer is not daunted. " Reader if thou hast viewed that 
stately picture which was lately sent up to the Parliament 
by Colonel Morley and was taken in a Flemish ship upon 
the Sussex shore: Thou hast beheld therein the weaker 
sex triumphing over the stronger, and by the help of a 
Mitre thou hast seen a sceptre doing homage to the distaff." 
It must be owned that for once Oxford defeated London, 
and that Colonel Morley's misplaced zeal brought some 
ridicule on his party. The nightmare of Popery, the 
tendency to attribute all the King's actions to the influence 
of the French-born queen, was partly genuine, partly an 
affectation for political ends. 

Meantime the year 1644 was passing without any event 
of great moment occurring in Sussex; but the Parliament's 

1 B.M., Thomason tracts: pressmark E. 3 (21). 



156 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

efforts to raise men and money were unceasing. On 
25th January Lawrence Ashburnham, 1 who with Thomas 
Middleton, William and Thomas Michelborne, Henry 
Shelley, and Herbert Hay, had been appointed by the 
Parliament a deputy-lieutenant of Sussex in the previous 
month, wrote to the Mayor and jurats of Rye, informing 
them, on the authority of Sir Thomas Pelham, Sir Thomas 
Parker, and Colonel Morley, representing the Committee at 
Lewes, that the army was in great want " by reason that 
the provision money is not sent in according to the time 
appointed." They were requested with all possible speed 
to send the said money with all arrears to Mr. John 
Aylwine at Lewes. The corporation endeavoured to 
escape this contribution on the ground that they had not 
received 200 promised by the Committee for the fortifica- 
tion of the town, and drew a moving picture of the dangers 
to which their ships and trade, and even the town itself, 
were exposed from the King's privateers. 2 

The captured castle of Arundel was being used as a 
magazine; on 24th February the Committee of both king- 
doms ordered 100 barrels of gunpowder to be laid into the 
castle for the store and use of Sir William Waller. The 
importance of fully securing Chichester against a surprise 
was realized, and in April Colonel Stapley, the governor, 
was ordered to increase the garrison to 800 men. 3 He was 
at the same time urged to hasten the despatch of the 
county contingent to Waller. This refers to an ordinance 
dated 3ist March 1644* for raising 3,000 foot and 1,200 
horse and 500 dragoons to be commanded by Sir William 
Waller, Serjeant-Major-General of the associated counties 
of Hants, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent. The money con- 
tingent for Sussex was ;68o i6.y. In June Colonel Apsley, 

1 Cousin of John Ashburnham, the King's Treasurer and attendant; 
one of many instances of the political division of families. 

2 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 214. 

3 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, di, 65. * Dallaway, i, cxxix. 



THE CLUBMEN 157 

member for Steyning, was actively endeavouring to raise a 
regiment in Sussex, for and by authority of Sir William 
Waller, but the gentlemen of the county objected on the 
ground that the burden of supporting the officers would 
annoy the inhabitants; Waller was therefore desired to 
cancel his commission to Apsley, which he did willingly, 
" the rather because I would not have anything to do with 
the gentlemen of Sussex, from whom I have received 
nothing but constant incivilities." l 

In September Sir William Waller requested the Com- 
mittee of both kingdoms to send speedily to Arundel 
Castle a supply of sixty barrels of gunpowder, with match 
and ball proportionable. " In this extremity we must raise 
all the strength we can, though we think of paying them 
afterwards." '' In October " the Committee of Arundel 
Castle " wrote to the House of Commons concerning the 
compounding with the principal delinquents of Sussex, 3 
whose estates had been sequestered, and were being held 
by the Sussex Committee : " We gratefully acknowledge 
your favour in granting us our sequestered rents, to main- 
tain our garrisons; but such are the deadness of the times 
and the malignity of the people, that much land lies waste, 
and none will use any but at very low rents, so that these 
rents do not rise to the value that is supposed. We hear 
that some of our chief malcontents are to be admitted to a 
fine, and enjoy their estates again ; but we stand more in 
need than ever of their revenues ; and if these should be so 
lightly discharged, upon the approach of the enemy we 
cannot expect to have any ill-affected continued under the 
notions of neuters or malignants; it would create great 
discontents and disheartenings in the best affected party. 
The names of the chief [delinquents] are the Earl of 

1 Dallaway, dii, 3, 7. One instance of this " incivility " was doubt- 
less the action of Colonel Stapley after the fall of Arundel. See 

P-95- 

2 Ibid., diii, i . 3 See ante, ch. viii. 



158 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Thanet, Sir Edw. Bishop, Sir Edw. Ford, and Col. Jno. 
Apsley." The House referred the letter to the Committee 
for Compounding at Goldsmiths' Hall. 1 The local com- 
mittees naturally preferred sequestration, under which they 
held the estates and received the rents, to a composition, 
when the fine would be paid to the central authority, and 
used by it elsewhere. Of the fine of 5,000 first imposed 
on the Earl of Thanet, 3,000 was lent by the Goldsmiths' 
Hall Committee for the payment of Abingdon garrison on 
security of 3,000 worth of the King's plate, to be delivered 
to the Committee by Sir Henry Mildmay, and to be melted 
in three months if the money remain unpaid. 2 

During the summer of 1644 Colonel Morley, with "Sixe 
Colours 3 of Blew " from Sussex, was occupied at the siege 
of Basing, in Hampshire, the magnificent and strongly 
fortified house of the Marquis of Winchester. Morley 's 
" pikes and muskets " were quartered in the park. With 
the other colonels present he received through Mr. Lisle, 
M.P. for Winchester, the thanks of the House for his " good 
service." Towards the end of June Colonel Norton, who 
had been in command of the besieging forces, was with- 
drawn, and instructed to place himself at the service of 
Major-General Browne, who was to co-operate with Sir 
William Waller in the intended siege of Oxford. Morley 
was left in command, and brought great energy to the con- 
duct of the siege. 4 He mounted culverins weighing nearly 
36 cwt. each, which poured 18 Ib. shot into the house. By 
the first week of July he had brought the siege works 
within pistol shot. Having received reinforcements from 
Southampton on nth July, he next day summoned the 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 12-13. 2 Ibid., 12. 

3 Companies. 

* Mercurius Civicus, No. 61, i7-25th July 1644. "The siege of 
Basing House is still closely continued by Col. Jones, Col. Morley, and 
Col. Onslow, and great probability there is daily of the taking or sur- 
render thereof, the house being now very much battered and defaced 
in many places." 



THE CLUBMEN 159 

Marquis to surrender, sending "by a drum this harsh 
demand ": 

" MY LORD, 

" To avoid the effusion of Christian blood I have 
thought fit to send your Lordship this summons to demand 
Basing House to be delivered to me for the use of King 
and Parliament: if this be refused the ensuing inconveni- 
ence will rest upon you. I desire your speedy answer, and 
Rest, my Lord, your humble servant 

" HERBERT MORLEY." 

To which Lord Winchester returned an answer marked 
" Hast, hast, hast, post hast." 

" SIR, 

" It is a crooked demand, and shall receive its answer 
suitable. I keep this House in the Right of my Soveraigne, 
and will do it in despight of your Forces. Your letter I 
will preserve in testimony of your Rebellion. 

" WINCHESTER." 

The besieging forces under Morley now numbered some 
3,000 horse and foot. Some of the chimneys of the house 
had been battered down, and a few small breaches had 
been made. 1 On 2Oth July a captain in Morley's regiment 
was killed by a shot from the works. About the same time 
Colonel Norton returned and resumed command. During 
August the garrison suffered severely from small-pox. 
The King himself is said to have counselled surrender, but 
the stout old lord replied " that under His Majesty's favour, 
the place was his, and that he was resolved to keep it as 
long as he could." On loth August Colonel Morley, while 
inspecting the works in the park, was wounded by a bullet 
in the shoulder, " which spoiled his clearkship ever since." 

After eighteen weeks' siege Basing House was relieved 

1 True Informer, i3th July 1644. 



160 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

by a force from Oxford under Colonel Gage, with whom 
was a body of horse under Sir William Campion, which 
drove off the besiegers, and placed a fresh supply of 
powder and match in the house, and added 100 musketeers 
to the garrison. In Norton's retreat "we took," says Gage, 
" a colour or cornet of theirs, which I understand was 
Colonel Morley's, the motto of which was Non ab Aequo 
sed in Aequo [' Victory is not by Right but in Right '], a 
motto not so proper to theirs, as our cause, the equity of 
which gave us the victory with the true and genuine 
signification of the motto." l 

Basing House held out until October 1645, when it was 
stormed and sacked by Cromwell. 2 

During the latter part of 1644 infantry raised in Sussex 
was employed in Dorsetshire, apparently under Sir Anthony 
Ashley Cooper, where its services were not greatly appre- 
ciated. In some memoranda drawn up by Cooper for 
Governor Bingham of Poole, it is stated (i) " That if they 
cannot immediately send us a supply of Horse, orders be 
forthwith sent for the withdrawal of the Sussex Foot and 
the rest to be disposed into their several garrisons; the 
keeping them together in a body devours that provision 
which should be sent into the garrisons and destroys the 
country besides the few Horse we have, not above 100, 
are wholly taken up with providing for them"; (2) ". . . we 
shall be better able to submit without than with the Sussex 
foot." 3 

The loyalty of some of the gentry and members of Parlia- 
ment, who had hitherto adhered to the Parliamentary side, 
was now beginning to be called in question. Thomas 

1 Gage's Official Report. 

* For a detailed account of the proceedings at Basing see Godwin's 
Civil War in Hampshire. 

3 The Civil War in Dorset, 1642-1660, by A. R. Bayley, Taunton, 
1910 ; a work of great research, the value of which is much diminished 
by the absence of an adequate Index. 



THE CLUBMEN 161 

Middleton had already fallen under suspicion; 1 and on 
1 6th October 1644 a petition was delivered at the door of 
the House " by divers ministers and well-affected per- 
sons of Sussex," complaining of Sir T. Pelham and Sir 
T. Parker; and on 2gth October John Ashford was de- 
nounced to it " in consequence of the resort and great 
meeting of people ill affected to this House." All these 
matters were referred to the Committee, and especially to 
W. Cawley. 2 There was a proposal at this time to de- 
molish " many strong houses " in Sussex, especially Cow- 
dray; but it was postponed on the ground that it would 
have a very bad effect on the county. When the proposal 
was made to the Committee of both kingdoms, strong 
objections to it were raised, and the Committee wondered 
at the Sussex Committee's intention. 3 But the obstinate 
resistance of Basing House doubtless made the Parliament 
nervous as to the possibility of similar proceedings else- 
where. It was accordingly determined to garrison Cow- 
dray, and Mr. Cawley consented to be governor if he were 
granted 120 foot and 10 horse, with provision and ammu- 
nition necessary; 4 and later, Colonel Morley was instructed 
to put more or less men into Cowdray House as occasion 
required. 5 The decisive defeat of the Royal army at New- 
bury, on 2/th October, relieved the pressure on the 
Southern counties, and it was decided that it was unneces- 
sary either to demolish or garrison the houses previously 
discussed, the Parliament believing that " the situation of 
these places may be their own garrison." 6 It was also 
ordered that the county forces should not be assembled 
till further notice, and that the defence of the county 
should be entrusted to Colonel Morley's regiment. Having 
been much weakened by reason of its late service at Basing 
House, it was to be made up to its strength of 800 men 

1 See p. 80. 2 S. A. C., v, 72. 

3 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, diii, 10. 4 Ibid., 13. 

5 Ibid., S3- 6 Ibid., 40. 

M 



162 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

out of the trained bands until recruits could be sent up to 
replace them. 1 

But the calm was not long-lived. In January 1645 there 
was great Royalist activity on the western borders of the 
county ; and on the 8th the Committee of both kingdoms 
wrote to the Committee of Sussex : " The forces of the 
enemy growing strong in the west, if they meet not with a 
speedy check are like to endanger the port towns, and so 
wholly subject that county as to be able to draw levies and 
supplies from thence to infest your borders lying next 
them and also lengthen out the war. We have designed a 
great party of horse and dragoons immediately to march 
thither for their removal, and therefore desire that 500 
dragoons' horses may be had out of cos. Kent, Sussex and 
Surrey." 2 At the same time it was ordered that 1,000 foot 
should march from Reading to oppose the enemy about 
Sussex; and that Colonels Stapley and Morley, being 
deputy-lieutenants, should call the trained bands into 
Arundel and Chichester for the defence of those towns. 
These preparations were rendered necessary by the designs 
on Sussex of George Goring, recently appointed Royalist 
lieutenant-general of Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, and 
Kent. 3 In December 1644 he was sent into Hampshire 
" upon a design of his own of making an incursion into Sus- 
sex, where he pretended he had correspondence, and that 
very many well-affected persons promised to rise and de- 
clare for the King, and that Kent would do the same." 4 In 
pursuance of this design he advanced as far as Farnham, 
attacked Christchurch and was repulsed, and then took up 
his winter quarters at Salisbury. He laid the blame of his 
failure on the defects of his army and the disobedience of 
his officers, and used these pretexts to obtain greater inde- 
pendence and larger powers. 5 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, diii, 54. 2 Ibid., dvi, 10. 

3 Black, Oxford Docquets, p. 244. 4 Clarendon, Rebellion, ix, 7. 

5 D. N. B. ; Warburton's Cavaliers, iii, 46, 52. 



THE CLUBMEN 163 

Its indecisive character is perhaps the most striking fea- 
ture of the war during these first two years. In Sussex, 
Chichester had twice been captured, Arundel had thrice 
fallen, and still there was constant fear as to a repetition of 
such events. Either party was able on occasion to put into 
the field a sufficient force to effect much in the absence of 
its opponents ; neither could organize an army adequate to 
bring a campaign to a triumphant and definite conclusion. 1 
" Our victories," said a Parliamentary orator, in December 
1644, "the price of blood invaluable, so gallantly gotten, 
and, which is more pity, so graciously bestowed, seem to 
have been put into a bag with holes ; what we won one 
time we lost another. The treasure is exhausted; the 
country is wasted. A summer's victory has proved but a 
winter's story. The game however shut up in autumn has 
to be new played again next spring ; as if the blood that 
has been shed were only to manure the ground for a new 
crop of contention. Men's hearts have failed them with 
the observation of these things." 2 Six months before Sir 
William Waller had plainly told Parliament that an army 
compounded of local levies would never do their business. 
" Till you have an army merely your own," said he, " that 
you may command, it is impossible to do anything of im- 
portance." 3 The army which Waller had foreshadowed 
was brought into being by the genius and perseverance of 
Fairfax and Cromwell. The scheme for the New Model 
passed the Commons on 2/th January 1645, and the Lords 
on 1 5th February. The end was already in sight. 

In February and March Parliament was taking steps to 
" raise, levy and impress men for the new army of Sir 
Thomas Fairfax." Sussex was directed to provide 600 
men. 4 Orders sent out at this time enjoined that especial 
care be taken in the choice of able, full-grown and well 

1 See Firth, Cromwell's Army, p. 30. a Rushworth, vi, 4. 

3 Gardiner, Great Civil War, ii, 5. 

4 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvi, 72. 



164 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

clothed men meet for this employment ; that care be taken 
in the choice of conductors and assistance afforded them to 
keep their men from straggling and pilfering the country as 
they go, or from departing from their colours ; and that the 
men so impressed be commodiously provided, as had 
formerly been the practice, with red coats faced with blue. 1 
Sussex was also ordered to provide a money contingent of 
j3>9 2 7 1 S S - 6%d- to be paid by monthly instalments. 2 

The scare concerning the fortification of Sussex houses 
in the Royalist interest was not yet over. In April the 
County Committee was warned from London that the 
enemy had a design of fortifying Sir Richard Norton's 
house at Rotherfield, which if effected would be of very 
great inconvenience to those parts; and was desired to 
take means to prevent such mischief and to consult with 
the gentlemen of Surrey as to what steps were advisable. 3 
There was a good deal of unrest in the south-eastern 
counties at this time, and a Kentish regiment was in open 
mutiny. 4 

On loth May Algernon Sidney was appointed Governor 
of Chichester, in place of Colonel Stapley ; and a month 
later he received instructions to put the town in a thorough 
state of defence, to resist an advance of the enemy either 
from Oxford or from the west ; and to keep careful guard 
that he might not be surprised by any inconsiderable party 
which might make an attempt. 5 The famous Algernon 
Sidney, son of the second Earl of Leicester, was at this 
time only twenty-three years of age, and at the threshold 
of the remarkable career which ended on the scaffold after 
the discovery of the Rye-House Plot in 1683. 

Critical as the position in West Sussex seems to have 
been considered, the exigences of the besiegers of Basing 
House overruled every other consideration. Colonel Sidney 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvi, 72. 2 Dallaway, i, cxxix. 

3 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvii, 2. 4 Ibid., 27. 

' Ibid.) 120. 



THE CLUBMEN 165 

was ordered to find 400 men for the siege, 300 from 
Chichester and 100 from Arundel; 1 and shortly afterwards 
an urgent demand for 100 musketeers was made; the Com- 
mittee of Sussex at the same time to find 100 dragoon 
horses. 2 These contingents, we learn, were " sent forth with 
much cheerfulness." 8 

The cheerfulness was perhaps only a Parliamentary 
euphemism to encourage the other counties. There is 
evidence that after more than two years of indecisive war- 
fare the country was getting thoroughly tired of the pro- 
ceedings of both factions. The Royalists, especially the 
forces under Rupert and Goring, had acquired the worst 
reputation for plunderings and high-handed action, but the 
presence of either army was a great burden to the in- 
habitants. The county of Surrey took the lead in urging 
the great grievance it endured from the practice of free 
quartering, and used the very practical argument of its in- 
ability to quarter an army and to pay taxes at the same 
time. On loth February 1645 the Committee wrote to Sir 
William Waller that they received a petition, presented by 
divers gentlemen and inhabitants of Surrey to the House 
of Commons, and recommended from the county in a 
special manner, representing the sufferings of that county, 
especially the western part, by the long free quartering of 
soldiers, both horse and foot, now under his command 
amongst them; who, notwithstanding former orders for 
their removal before this time, did yet continue there and 
commit many insufferable outrages upon men's persons 
and estates. They therefore earnestly desired him to com- 
mand those forces speedily to remove into other quarters 
out of that county, that it might no longer be disabled from 
paying the taxes required from it. 4 

On 25th April a letter of similar purport was sent to 
Sir Thomas Fairfax. Some troops of Haselrig's were lying 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvii, 104. * Ibid., 118. 

3 Ibid., 123. 4 Ibid., dvi, 41. 



166 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

in Surrey upon free quarter, and exorbitant warrants were 
being given out for provisions, Fairfax was requested to 
see that no more such warrants were given out; that what 
had been taken was paid for, and that the counties from 
which his contributions were to come should not have 
troops quartered upon them. 1 At a later date we shall find 
Sussex suffering from a similar grievance. 

The discontent of the non-combatants in the southern 
counties was now ripe for an explosion. " The people in 
Kent and Sussex," it was said, " are very much given to 
dispute with their masters' taxes, and speak high and do 
some small matters." 2 Isolated instances of resistance by 
peasants to plunder or extortion had previously occurred. 
In February 1644 two soldiers were killed by the villagers 
of Nuthurst, near Horsham. The culprits were sent to 
Arundel to be tried by Court-martial, but Parliament, on 
a petition from Horsham, ordered them to be delivered to 
the Civil authorities. 3 In 1645 the smouldering fires of dis- 
content broke into flame in the form of a rising of the 
country people on the plausible grounds of protecting 
themselves against the plunder and harassment of both 
armies. It seems to have originated in Wilts and Dorset, 
with a meeting, on 25th May, of 4,000 farmers and yeo- 
men to appoint an organized body of watchmen to seize 
plunderers, and to carry them for punishment to the nearest 
garrison of the party to which they belonged. 4 But it was 
found impossible to get the officers to do justice on their 
own men, and on 3Oth June the farmers resolved to inflict 
the punishment themselves, and also to afford protection 
to deserters from any service into which they had been 
pressed unwillingly. 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvi, 34. 

a Arthur Trevor to the Marquis of Ormond, 8th May, 1645 (Carte's 
Collections, p. 85). 

3 Carte's Collection, quoted in Hurst's Horsham, p. 19. 
' Gardiner, Civil War, ch. xxxii. 



THE CLUBMEN 167 

This movement of the Clubmen, as they were called 
because they were armed with rough and rustic weapons, 
rapidly assumed the proportions of an open revolt, directed 
in the main against the Parliament ; but in Somerset, which 
had suffered from the depredations of the Royalist leader, 
Lord Goring, inclined to favour his opponents. The design 
was perhaps at bottom Royalist; the country folk, the 
great mass of whom were neutrals, being worked upon by 
the Royalist gentry and clergy. 1 The rapid extension of 
the movement emboldened its leaders, who presumed to 
send messages both to King and Parliament, demanding 
that peace should forthwith be made, and the armies dis- 
missed to their homes. Holies, the leader of the Dorset 
Clubmen, told Fairfax that if their terms were not granted 
they were strong enough to enforce obedience. Fairfax 
would soon be engaged with Goring ; if he got the worst of 
the fight, every fugitive would be knocked on the head 
without mercy. Fairfax pointed out with admirable temper 
that it was impossible to accept their demands. At all 
costs he must hold the port-towns to prevent a foreign in- 
vasion. The King had already made contracts to bring in 
10,000 French and 4,000 Irish. 2 

The aspirations and designs of the Clubmen are well 
expressed in the manifesto of a " peaceable meeting " of the 
knights, gentlemen, freeholders, and others, the inhabitants 
of the county of Berks. This declaration- expressed that 
the miserable inhabitants of the county, foreseeing famine 
and utter desolation for themselves, their wives, and their 
children, unanimously joined in petitioning his Majesty 
and the two Houses of Parliament for a happy peace and 
accommodation of the present differences without further 
effusion of Christian blood. In the meantime they de- 
clared that they really intended to the utmost hazard of 
their lives and liberties to defend and maintain the true 

1 Carlyle, Cromwell, Letter XXX. 2 Rushworth, vi, 52. 



1 68 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Reformed Protestant religion ; to join with and assist one 
another in the mutual defence of their laws, liberties, and 
properties against all plunderers and all other unlawful 
violence whatsoever ; they resolved and faithfully promised 
each to other that if any person or persons concurring with 
them should suffer in his person or estate in execution of 
their objects, it should be the suffering of the generality, 
and reparation be made to the party suffering, and in case 
of loss of life provision should be made for his wife and 
children. 1 

According to Locke, the movement had been originated 
by Anthony Cooper, afterwards first Earl of Shaftesbury, 
then a young man of twenty-four. He had abandoned the 
King's cause in the previous year, but was perhaps not 
very enthusiastic for that of the Parliament. His influence 
was very great in Wilts and Dorset. In the latter county 
Cromwell himself was set the task of dealing with the 
trouble. Having failed to draw them into a discussion of 
grievances, he attacked a large body of Clubmen who had 
occupied an old Roman or British camp on Hambledon 
Hill, near Shaftesbury, and put them all to flight. In his 
letter to Fairfax he says : " We have taken about 300 ; 
many of which are poor silly creatures, whom if you please 
to let me send home, they promise to be very dutiful for 
time to come, and ' will be hanged before they come out 
again.' " 2 There was abundant evidence " how deeply 
Royalist this scheme of Clubmen had been : Commissions 
for raising regiments of Clubmen; the design to be ex- 
tended over England at large, yea, into the Associated 
Counties " 3 such papers were found on the person of Sir 
Lewis Dives at the capture of Sherborne Castle. 4 

From Wiltshire the revolt soon spread into Hampshire, 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 247. 

2 Carlyle, Cromwell, Letter XXX. 

3 Ibid. ; Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, p. 81. 

4 Ibid., pp. 90-96. 



iTHE CLUBMEN 169 

and thence into Sussex. On i8th and igth September 
Mr. Cawley and the Sussex Committee reported " divers 
outrageous proceedings" of 1,000 Clubmen at Rowkeshill, 
near Chichester. On the previous day a meeting of 600 
Clubmen had been held on Runcton * Down, and a meet- 
ing at Bury Hill, near Arundel, on the following Monday 
arranged for. Prompt measures were taken. Colonel Nor- 
ton Cromwell's friend " idle Dick " was ordered to march 
into Sussex, where he was to be reinforced by 1,000 horse 
and by the county trained-bands, if their fidelity could be 
trusted. 2 The Committee for Hants, Surrey, and Sussex 
were directed to consult " how to prevent any inconvenience 
that may happen by reason of the Clubmen," and to se- 
quester the estates of all recusants. Meantime, before 
daybreak on Sunday, 2ist September, Colonel Morley and 
Captain Morley, then governor of Arundel, had sent Major 
Young to fall 'on the head-quarters of the Clubmen at Wal- 
berton, and dispersed them, as related by an eye-witness 
in a communication to Mr. Speaker Lenthall. 3 " This third 
party, not having the least show or pretence of any au- 
thority, and contrary to the chiefest power of this king- 
dom, the Parliament called by his Majesty at Westminster, 
tumultuously assembled themselves together, not only in 
the west, but also through their instigations have caused 
many thousands of the ignorant in the adjacent counties 
to rise up together with them as far as Hampshire. Divers 
of which county, not contented with their own preposterous 
courses, have proceeded to inveigle divers people of the 
next adjacent county of Sussex to follow their evil courses, 
amongst which they have prevailed upon one Aylen, son 
to one Mr. Aylen, formerly Captain of a trained-band, also 

1 ? Duncton. 2 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dx, 128, 139. 

3 A true Relation of the Rising of the Club-men in Sussex, as it was 
related to William Lenthall, Esq: Speaker to the Honorable House of 
Commons, by an eyewitness of the same. Published by Authority. 
London : printed for John Field, Sept. 23, 1645. B.M. E 302 (18). 



i;o SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

one Mr. Peckham, besides some of the Fords, and some 
others yeomen of the said county, to join together as ring- 
leaders in a confederacy with the vulgar multitude. Who, 
being ignorant of manners, much more of such things as 
concern their liberty and peace, did accordingly send for 
warrants into the several towns and hamlets next adjoining 
Hampshire, as also in and about Midhurst, to join with 
them in keeping of a general rendezvous upon Runcton 
Hill, which is between Midhurst and Chichester in the 
said county, which was accordingly done last Wednesday. 
Since which time they have further proceeded to call in 
the rest of the country betwixt Chichester and Arundel to 
join with them in a general rendezvous to be held at Bury 
Hill within one mile of Arundel upon Monday the two 
and twentieth of this present. Many people of the said 
places, especially about Eastergate, and Walberton, and 
so down to the sea-side, and upon the western side of the 
River of Arundel towards Petworth have joined with them, 
and drawing themselves into great numbers upon Saturday 
the twentieth of this present, they kept their quarters at 
Walberton and divers other places thereabouts. Their 
number being greatly increased, and they rendering no 
account of their said tumultuous proceedings, the honor- 
able Colonel Morley, Captain Morley, Governor of Arundel 
Castle, and Major Young, upon consultation thought fit to 
fall on them in their quarters at Walberton, as being the 
next place to them, and within five miles of Arundel, 
hoping thereby to dishearten and disappoint them in con- 
tinuing their tumultuous proceedings. And accordingly 
upon Sunday morning about three hours before day, Major 
Young with about ten horsemen and forty footmen fell 
upon them in their quarters at Walberton, killed him who 
went to ring the bells as the most dangerous man, by his 
doings, to call in the rest of their adherents to their aid, 
which by his death was prevented ; whereupon the rest of 
them so far lost their courage, that everyone shifted for 



THE CLUBMEN 171 

themselves, and fled all save two malignant ministers, and 
some other stragglers of that place, who were taken pri- 
soners, and are committed in safe custody unto Arundel 
Castle, where it is believed they shall receive, according to 
their demerits, such exemplary punishment as will give 
good warning to the rest of their tribe to beware how 
they follow them, and proceed in the like preposterous 
courses." 

On 26th September Colonel Norton reported that he 
had put down the Hampshire Clubmen, and added: "I 
hope this will be a warning to Sussex; if not we shall be 
ready to serve them the like trick." l His troopers " cut 
and hackt many of them, took all their chiefs, ringleaders 
and about 1,000 arms, which made their neighbours in 
Sussex to shrink in their heads, and we hear most of them 
are departed to their own homes." * 

Sussex, however, continued in a very unsettled state. On 
7th October it was reported to Parliament that of the 400 
men appointed from the county, only 269 had joined Fair- 
fax's army. On I3th October William Cawley wrote to 
Robert Scawen 3 complaining that by reason of the Club- 
men's insurrection they could raise neither men nor money 
for Sir Thomas Fairfax's army nor upon any other ordin- 
ance ; they would not suffer the officers to impress, and if 
any were impressed they were forcibly rescued, a constable 
or tithingman being sometimes sent with the blood running 
about his ears. Wherefor of 67 to be impressed in Chichester 
rape, there were brought in only 27, whom they were forced 
to maintain at a great charge for fourteen days, and then 
sent to Lieutenant-General Cromwell at Winchester. The 
remaining 40 they would endeavour to raise if the House 
would authorize them to apprehend the principal fomentors, 
and so punish them that by their example others might 
be affrighted from attempting the like. And they were in 

1 Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. x (6), 163. 

2 Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer. 3 M.P. for Berwick. 



172 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

no better case for money. It was one of the Clubmen's 
articles to pay only such taxes as they pleased, the fruits 
of which were that of over 4,000 due less than .100 had 
been brought in since the first rising. No collector dared 
to distrain for fear of having his brains dashed out, the 
servants and women rising together to resist armed with 
prongs and other weapons, so that of eight months' due 
upon Sir Thomas Fairfax's army not two months' was yet 
brought in. All this would be easily remedied if the House 
authorized the Committee to sequester the ringleaders, fine 
the rest, and disarm all ; but until that was done, it was in 
vain for them to issue their warrants, their persons being 
scorned and threatened and the House's authority abused 
and derided. 1 

The conferring of the powers requested no doubt ter- 
minated the trouble, of which we hear no more. 

With the fall of Winchester and of Basing House in 
October 1645 the tide of war rolled away from Hampshire 
and Sussex. Cromwell, in urging the complete demolition 
of Basing, suggested that a strong post should be made of 
Newbury, not only as a check on Donnington Castle, which 
still held out for the King, but on account of its strategic 
importance, and to keep open the road between London 
and Bristol. Part of the garrison was to be composed of 
men taken from the garrisons of Farnham and Chichester. 
" I believe," he wrote to Lenthall, " the gentlemen of Sussex 
and Hampshire will with more cheerfulness contribute to 
maintain a garrison on the frontier than in their bowels, 
which will have less safety in it." 2 

Such appears to have been the opinion of Sussex. When 
the Scottish Convention undertook in 1643 to send an 
army into England to assist the Parliament, on the under- 
standing that 30,000 per month should be found for its 
support, a loan of 200,000 was ordered to be raised for 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 289. 

2 Carlyle, Cromwell, Letter XXXII. 



THE CLUBMEN 173 

the purpose. Towards this loan Sussex was assessed at 
^13,500. In the early part of 1645 some correspondence 
passed on the subject of this assessment, a portion of 
which was still unpaid. 1 In the following January Colonel 
Anthony Stapley wrote from Lewes to the Speaker en- 
closing a petition from a considerable body of the in- 
habitants of the county asking repayment of part of the 
money lent by them towards the ^200,000 for the Scottish 
loan out of the sequestrations of the county; and urging 
that the garrison of Chichester, which was maintained out 
of the sequestrations, might be dissolved as useless. 2 This 
request was granted, and on 2nd March 1646 an order was 
made " that the ordnance at Chichester be brought to 
Arundel Castle, that Chichester be disgarrisoned, and the 
fortifications made since the troubles demolished." 

The garrisons had already been denuded of troops. On 
8th November the Committee of both kingdoms had de- 
sired the Committee of Sussex to send a troop of horse 
and all the foot they could spare for the strengthening of 
the garrison at Abingdon, these forces to be entertained at 
the State's charge, and their arms, if damaged, to be made 
good out of the public stores. 

Although, as we have seen, no event of the first import- 
ance occurred in Sussex during the year 1645 and the first 
half of 1646, there were many indications of the changing 
position of affairs. It was a period fraught with momentous 
consequences to the country at large, and therefore indi- 
rectly to the county. It marked the rise, organization, and 
complete success of the New Model Army, the gradual 
decay of the King's power, and his crushing defeat at 
Naseby, which lost him the Midlands as Marston Moor 
had lost him the North, and left the final issue of the 
struggle no longer in doubt. For a year more the royal 
flag flew over an ever-diminishing number of towns and 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvii, 154. 

2 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 347. 



174 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

fortresses, but with the flight of Charles to the Scots in 
May 1646, and the surrender of Oxford a month later, the 
First Civil War may be considered finished. The New 
Model, the instrument by which this result was achieved, 
was destined to be a deadlier foe to Parliamentary inde- 
pendence than any sovereign, and to usurp the functions 
of government for many a year to come. Its inception was 
a phase in the struggle between the two parties into which 
Parliament was divided, the Presbyterians and the Inde- 
pendents. Taken in conjunction with the Self-denying 
Ordinance, requiring all members of either House to resign 
their commands, it got rid of the Essexes, the Man- 
chesters, and other Presbyterian leaders, and placed the 
military power in the hands of new men, chiefly Inde- 
pendents, among whom Cromwell was rapidly rising to a 
pre-eminent position. This change amounted to a com- 
plete revolution in the civil and military executive. The 
forces of the Parliament, hitherto composed of separate 
bodies of local militia, were consolidated into a regular 
army of professional soldiers. As Cromwell himself ex- 
plained in many speeches and letters, the New Model was 
simply his own troop of East Anglian horse enlarged. And 
it was more than an army. It was an organized body of 
radical reformers, with very definite objects both in the 
spiritual and the civil sphere. "In things spiritual they 
were Independent, or earnest for entire liberty of con- 
science; in things civil they were already tending to the 
Commonwealth, to political and social revolution." l 

The scheme of the New Model provided for the estab- 
lishment of a force of 21,000 men, with regular pay 
dependent on the monthly payment of taxes regularly 
imposed, and not on the fluctuating attention of a political 
assembly, or the still more doubtful goodwill of County 
Committees. These taxes were to be assessed on the 

1 Harrison, Cromwell, p. 85. 



THE CLUBMEN i;5 

counties least exposed to the stress of war, whilst those in 
which the conflict was raging might be left to support the 
local garrisons and any special force employed for their 
defence. 1 We have seen how Sussex fared in this con- 
nection. 

But though the Self-denying Ordinance eliminated the 
Presbyterian peers, who had hitherto commanded the 
Parliamentary forces, in the selection of officers for the New 
Model Army, the Independents were true to their prin- 
ciples, not only in making no inquiry into religious tenets, 
but in paying no attention to distinctions of rank un- 
accompanied by public service or personal merit " I had 
rather," Cromwell had once written, " have a plain russet- 
coated Captain that knows what he fights for, and loves 
what he knows, than that which you call 'a gentleman,' and 
is nothing else. I honour a gentleman that is so indeed." 2 
The upper class did not come badly out of the test. Among 
the new military leaders were Hewson the cobbler and 
Pride the drayman; but the gentry were largely repre- 
sented in the list of officers. It has been calculated that 
" out of thirty-seven generals and colonels " who took part 
in the first great battle, " twenty-one were commoners of 
good families, nine were members of noble families, and 
only seven were not gentlemen by birth." 3 

Of the new army Sir Thomas Fairfax was made Com- 
mander-in-Chief ; and he laboured earnestly and with suc- 
cess to perfect its organization. " The voice was the voice 
of Fairfax ; but the hands were the hands of Oliver." 4 

The control of the iron-foundries in Kent and Sussex 
was of great importance to the Parliament a fact to which 

1 Com. of B. K. Day Book, 6th January 1645. Gardiner, Civil War, 
ch. xxv. 

2 Carlyle, Cromwell, Letter XVI. 

3 Markham, The Great Lord Fairfax, 199; Gardiner, Civil War, 
ch. xxviii. 

4 Harrison, Cromwell, p. 84. 



i;6 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

historians have not always given its due prominence. At 
this time it appears that the Parliament was dependent for 
its supply of ordnance on Mr. John Browne of Brede, in 
Sussex, and Horsemonden in Kent. The furnace at Brede 
had formerly belonged to the Sackvilles; it was sold about 
1693 by the Brownes to the Westerns of Essex. 1 John 
Browne was very busy during the Civil War making guns 
and ammunition both for the army and the fleet. In the 
naval estimates of iQth March 1645, provision is made for 
the following iron ordnance and shot to be supplied by 
John Browne for " the next summer's fleet." 

16 demi-culverins and 10 sakers . . . ,428 15 o 

20 saker drakes and 4 demi-culverin cuts . . 416 o o 

10 minion cuts . . ; ". ' . 115 10 o 

Round shot for the several species of ordnance 1392 17 2 

Bars of iron . ... 29 17 4 

Hand grenades for demi-culverins and sakers . 125 o o 2 

In June of the same year a letter from Thomas Walsing- 
ham, of Kent, to Lord Digby, fell into the hands of the 
Parliament. Walsingham strongly urged a Royal advance 
into Sussex and Kent; "be assured," he said, "of the 
people there, especially Mr. Browne, the King's gun- 
founder who makes all the cannon and bullet for the 
Parliament's service. My advice is that his Majesty march 
thither with 4,000 horse and foot, and ten days before to 
send intelligence to Mr. Browne, so that he may come 
from London into Kent, where his works are, and against 
the King's coming he will provide cannon and bullet, so 
that his Majesty need not bring any with him. The rebels 
have no guns or bullets but from him, and that from hand 
to mouth, there being none in the Tower, which he is 
forced to provide, else they would put others into his 
works. He hath not provided half so much bullets as was 

1 S. A. C., ii, 207. 

2 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dix. Letters and Papers relating to 
the Navy. 



THE CLUBMEN 177 

required for this expedition. If the King come into these 
counties he will deprive the rebels of all the ammunition 
and guns wherewith they fight against him. The King's 
forces should bring along with them musket moulds and 
he will provide lead, and then it cannot be doubted that 
the country will rise generally and be glad to express their 
true affection to his Majesty. By this means the King will 
not only gain this country, but all the works which now 
make the ammunition to fight against him, and so deprive 
the rebels of all their resources by sea and land to offend 
his Majesty any longer." l 

The House naturally regarded this as a serious matter, 
and ordered the examination of Mr. Browne and his son 
before a committee. John Browne, sen., deposed that he 
dwelt in Martin's Lane, by the Old Swan, and had recently 
come out of Kent. He knew none of the Walsinghams but 
Sir Thomas, and did not know whether he had a son. He 
denied having received any letters from Mr. Walsingham, 
and knew nothing of bringing any of the King's party into 
Kent, nor of any direction to be given to him when the 
King came. He had received no letters or orders from the 
King or from Oxford. 2 

John Browne, jun., deposed that he knew none of the 
Walsinghams. He lived at Horsemonden, where his father 
and he had three furnaces for the casting of culverins, etc., 
and all kinds of round shot. His father by letters every 
week gave directions what should be cast. What was sent 
up for the market was sent to Richard Pierson, in Philpot 
Lane, but if for the Parliament it went through his hands 
and was delivered into the Tower. Guns for the market or 
merchant were delivered to Mr. Samuel Ferrers at the 
Half Moon in Thames Street. 3 

A former workman of Browne deposed that in 1643 he 
sent to the King four men to cast ordnance; and a servant 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvii, 136. 2 Ibid., 134. 

3 Ibid., 135. 

N 



i/8 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

was called to testify that John Browne the elder was with 
the King when he went down to the House to arrest the 
five members. 1 

Mr. Browne, re-examined, asserted that two or three years 
before, trade being slack, he had dismissed several of his 
servants, and one of them for misappropriating money. 
He seems to have cleared himself, for not long after it was 
ordered that the Commissioners of the navy do peruse the 
proposals made by John Browne, senior, gunfounder, for 
the furnishing of ordnance for three frigates intended to be 
built, confer with him and report whether in their opinion 
the prices he asked or what others should be given for the 
pieces.* 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvii, 151. 

2 Ibid.) dxii, Navy papers. 



CHAPTER XI 

STEPHEN GOFFE AND JOHN ASHBURNHAM 

WHILE these events were taking place at home, a 
man of Sussex birth was conducting abroad a series 
of difficult and delicate negotiations on behalf of the King, 
which not only failed in their object, but in the result 
served to discredit the Royal cause in the eyes of friends 
and foes alike. Nothing revealed more plainly Charles's 
incapacity to understand the feelings and temper of Eng- 
lishmen than his continual efforts to obtain foreign aid to 
bolster up his throne. The landing of a horde of ruffians 
from Germany, which he and his queen made such frantic 
attempts to procure, would have surely been the occasion 
of a sinking of domestic strife, and the united uprising of 
all men in defence of their homes, their goods, and their 
women. 

Wars and revolutions offer many opportunities of ad- 
vancement to able men. The commercial avenues to wealth 
and distinction common in our own day did not exist, or 
hardly existed, in the seventeenth century. The usual path 
to eminence lay through the Church, the law, politics, or 
the arnw In the early years of the century there were 
born .. .e Rev. Stephen Goffe, rector of Stanmer, himself 
" a very severe Puritan," l three sons, who all attained some 
celebrity, but by very different routes. The youngest, 
William, was the best known. Apprenticed to a London 
drysalter, he joined the Parliamentary army, and soon 

1 Wood, Alhenae Oxonienses, ii, 26. 
179 



i8o SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

became a prominent soldier. He was named one of the 
King's judges and signed his death warrant. His subse- 
quent career will be dealt with later. The second son, John, 
went to Oxford and became a fellow of Magdalen. In 
1634 he was accused before the deputy-steward of the 
University of having killed a member of his College, but 
was acquitted. 1 In 1642 he was presented to the living of 
Hackington, near Canterbury, from which he was ejected 
the following year for refusing to take the Covenant, and 
thrown into the county prison at Canterbury. 2 Through 
the influence of his brother, the regicide, he was in 1652 
inducted into the living of Norton, near Sittingbourne. In 
1660 he was restored to the vicarage of Hackington. He 
enjoyed a reputation as an able scholar and a thoughtful 
writer, but no works of importance by him are known. 

The eldest son, Stephen, born in 1605, was educated at 
Merton College, Oxford. After taking his degree he went 
to the Low Countries as chaplain to the regiment of 
Colonel Horace Vere, and entered at Leyden University 
in 1633. Returning to England he was appointed one of 
Charles I's chaplains through the influence of Henry 
Jermyn, and took the degree of D.D. in 1636. When war 
broke out he followed the fortunes of the King, and became 
one of his most trusted agents. " A dexterous man too, 
and could comply with all men in all the acts of good 
fellowship." 3 In August 1642 he was empowered by warrant 
issued at York to collect and give receipts for money or 
plate given or tendered for the King's service. 4 In 1644 
Charles conceived the project of a match between his son, 
the Prince of Wales, then only fourteen years of age, and 
the youthful daughter of the Prince of Orange, as part of a 
scheme for obtaining assistance from the Continent against 
the Parliament, and Dr. Goffe was sent to Holland to carry 

1 Wharton, Laud, p. 71. 2 D. N. B. 

3 Clarendon, Hist., xi. 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 47. 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 181 

on the negotiations. The autograph letter of introduction 
from Charles to the Prince was as follows: 

Oxford, 24th May 1644. 
" MON COUSIN, 

" L'affaire dont ce porteur, le docteur Goffe, va in- 
struict, vous donnera des preuves de 1'afifection que j'ay 
pour ce quis vous regarde j'ay faict choix de ceste personne 
a cest employ, non seulement pour 1'avoir reconneu abile et 
fidelle, mais a cause aussy que sa condition rendra sa n6goci- 
ation moins suspecte le secrett d'icelle estant pour le present 
tout a faict ne"cessaire, tant a mes interests qu'au vostres. 
Je vous prie de luy donner parfaicte croiance, particuliere- 
ment quand il vous asseurera que je suis veVitablement 
vostre bien bon affection^ 

" COUSIN & AMY." 

Charles's project was that the marriage should form a 
link between England, France, and the Dutch Republic. 
The Prince of Orange was to give general military assist- 
ance to France, and to furnish fifteen or twenty ships of 
war for two months, and a sufficient number of other 
vessels to bring over to England 4,000 French foot and 
2,000 French horse. He was also to pay his daughter's 
portion in ready money. 2 No great progress was made with 
these negotiations in 1644, but at the beginning of 1645 
they were renewed with great vigour. The chief difficulty 
perhaps was that the Prince was not an absolute monarch, 
but the first magistrate and generalissimo of a republic 
which observed a strict neutrality as regards the contend- 
ing forces in England. A long correspondence took place 
between Dr. Goffe, at the Hague, and Lord Jermyn, who 
was with the Queen at Paris. The letters, which were written 
in cipher, were transcribed by Jermyn, and transmitted to 

1 Preserved in the collection of autograph letters and historical 
documents of the late Mr. Alfred Morrison. 

2 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. xvii. 



182 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Lord Digby in England. 1 Many of them fell into the hands 
of the Parliament when Digby was defeated at Sherburn in 
Yorkshire in October 1645. 

Henrietta Maria was now endeavouring to carry through 
a scheme suggested by Cardinal Mazarin, to obtain the 
assistance of the Duke of Lorraine. The Duke, who had 
been expelled from France by Richelieu, had transferred his 
sword to the service of the Emperor, and had fought with 
bravery and distinction at the head of a band of adven- 
turers who subsisted on plunder alone. 2 If the Duke could 
be got to listen to Henrietta Maria's overtures, France 
would be freed from his troublesome presence on her 
borders, and Mazarin would have rendered effective assist- 
ance to Charles. The Duke's answer was favourable; he 
was ready to enter Charles's service with 10,000 men. Goffe 
was therefore instructed to revive the marriage project, and 
to endeavour to obtain from the Prince of Orange the use 
of sufficient shipping to carry over this army, and of a fleet 
of warships to be employed in an attack upon the Parlia- 
mentary navy in the Downs or in the Medway. The Sussex 
coast was considered favourable for the landing of foreign 
troops. In one of the King's letters taken at Naseby, dated 
Oxford, 3<Dth March 1645, he mentions the ease with which 
they might " land at divers fit and safe places of landing 
upon the west coasts, besides the ports under my obedience, 
as Selsey near Chichester." And Hastings was suggested 
as the point at which the French troops the Queen was 
endeavouring to raise might be disembarked. 3 

This scheming continued throughout the whole of 1645 
and the early part of 1646. The Parliament was kept well 
informed by its agents in Paris, Robert Wright and Sir 
George Gerard, of what was going on. In December and 
January, the former wrote to Oliver St. John with reference 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., 1644-5, Preface, xv. 

2 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. xxvii. 

3 Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 157. 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 183 

to the Queen's plans. The Prince of Orange was still hold- 
ing out hopes to Dr. Goffe that he would transport the 
mercenaries to England in Dutch shipping. Wright urged 
that above everything the Parliament should endeavour to 
get possession of the Prince of Wales, to effect which even 
100,000 would be well spent. General Goring might be 
wrought upon ; both he and his father, the Earl of Nor- 
wich, were much dissatisfied with the Queen and she with 
them. Goring was at this time in Paris, ostensibly to re- 
cover from a wound, but in reality in the hope of obtain- 
ing command of the French troops, of which a first de- 
tachment was shortly to be shipped to Newhaven. " Gen- 
eral Goring having now past his cure will make his flourish 
for twenty or thirty days in Paris, and so return for the 
west." * 

If Charles thought he was going to get the best of a 
bargain with the Dutch, he ignored the national character, as 
expressed in a time-honoured distich. Self-interest not only 
was, but was avowed, the mainspring of Dutch diplomacy. 
A few years later, John Evelyn wrote in his diary: " Dined 
with the Dutch Ambassador. He did in a manner acknow- 
ledge that his nation mind only their own profit, do nothing 
out of gratitude, but collaterally as it relates to their gain 
or security; and therefore the English were to look for 
nothing of assistance to the banished King. This was to 
me no very grateful discourse, though an ingenuous con- 
fession." 2 

Some of Goffe's letters contain passages descriptive of 
persons who figured in the Court life of the period. In 
one of these is a pleasant reference to the Prince of Orange's 
children: "the young Prince is worthy of all honour and 
kindness from their Majesties, and grows a very proper 
and lovely person, as does Mademoiselle, more now than 
at first, perhaps difficulty adds beauty, but truly she has a 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 323, 335. 
a Evelyn's Diary, isth November 1659. 



1 84 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

perfect good shape, white skin, excellently well-fashioned 
hands, neck and breast, the face is not ill indeed, all but 
very good for many proportions there." l 

All the negotiations came to nothing. Perhaps the Prince 
was not very desirous in view of Charles's waning fortunes 
to mate his daughter with the Prince of Wales ; and to the 
other side it became plain that any sum which he could be 
expected to give his daughter would not go far in supply- 
ing the sinews of war. So Charles, Prince of Wales, re- 
mained a bachelor until he married Catherine of Braganca 
seventeen years later. And the Dutch statesmen set their 
face strongly against the proposal that the Duke of Lor- 
raine's army should pass through Dutch territory and be 
transported to England in Dutch shipping. Sussex and 
England were relieved from all fear of an invasion by a 
pack of German wolves, and the discredit of the King was 
deepened. " Irish, French, Dutch or Lorrainers were all 
one to Charles if only they would help him to regain his 
crown. Born of a Scottish father and a Danish mother, 
with a grandmother who was half French by birth and al- 
together French by breeding, with a French wife, with 
German nephews and a Dutch son-in-law, Charles had 
nothing in him in touch with English national feeling." 2 

The subsequent career of Dr. Stephen Goffe may be 
briefly noted here. Having returned to England, and being 
suspected of privity with the King's escape from Hampton 
Court, he was arrested and imprisoned, but found means to 
escape. While the King was at Carisbrooke, he employed 
Goffe to negotiate with the Scottish Commissioners with a 
view to their receding from the demand that he should take 
the Covenant. 3 After the King's execution, Goffe retired to 
Paris, where he became a Catholic and chaplain to Henri- 
etta Maria. He rose to be the Superior of the Fathers of 
the Oratory, and died in their house in 1681. He had 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvii, 37. 

2 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. xxix. 3 D. N. B. 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 185 

wandered far from his early Puritan up-bringing in the 
rectory of Stanmer. 

From the tortuous and unpatriotic intrigues of this 
diplomatic churchman we may turn with relief to the ser- 
vice to his king of John Ashburnham, scion of a house 
which perhaps more fully than any other represents the 
ancienne noblesse of Sussex. Son and heir of Sir John Ash- 
burnham of Ashburnham, he was appointed groom of the 
bed-chamber to Charles I in 1628. They had been on 
intimate terms previously, for in a letter written the year 
before, the King styles him " Jack," as he continued to do 
through life. 1 To the Long Parliament he was returned as 
member for Hastings, and Clarendon informs us that he 
was the person who reported to the King what passed in 
the debates. On 5th February 1643 he was discharged and 
disabled from being any longer a member of the House, 
for his adherence to the King's cause; and on I4th Sept- 
ember it was ordered that his estate be forthwith sequest- 
ered. 2 In 1644 he was nominated one of the King's com- 
missioners for the Treaty of Uxbridge. During the war he 
acted as the King's treasurer, styled " Our Treasurer at 
Wars." In 1646, when the Parliamentary armies were 
closing on Oxford, "it was judged necessary by all con- 
sidering men (as well for the advantage of that faithful 
remnant within that place, as for His Majesty's safety) that 
His sacred Person should not be liable to the success of an 
assault (for Conditions or Treaties seemed vain to be ex- 
pected where the King was) but that some expedient should 
be found by escape from thence to save His life, though 
nothing could be thought on in order to His flight, that in 
point of danger kept not equal pace with the hazard of His 
stay." 3 The courses open to him were to go to Newark, to 
the Scottish army, where he might be compelled to embrace 
Presbyterianism ; to betake himself to London where he 

1 Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 288. * Commons' Journals. 

3 Ashburnham's Narrative, p. 64. 



186 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

would have to reckon with the Independents; or to endeav- 
our to escape beyond the seas. But Oxford must be left at 
all hazards. 

Still apparently undecided, at three o'clock on the morn- 
ing of 27th April the King set out on his humiliating 
journey. Though perhaps determined to go to the Scots, 
he informed his council of his intention to go to London. 
With his hair and beard close trimmed, and disguised as a 
servant, he passed over Magdalen bridge at three o'clock 
in the morning, in company with John Ashburnham and 
Dr. Hudson, one of his chaplains. "Farewell, Harry!" 
called out the Governor, Sir Thomas Glemham, as he closed 
the gates behind him, 1 and the party took the London road. 
At Hillingdon they halted three hours, Charles perhaps 
still nursing the vain hope that some encouraging message 
would come to him from the City, if the City knew what 
was happening. But no message came. Abandoning all 
idea of entering London, Charles turned his horse's head 
northward, and rode through Harrow and St. Albans to 
Wheathampstead, where he halted for the night. The 
guards on the road had been kept in good humour by small 
presents of money, and satisfied by the exhibition of a pass 
signed by Fairfax in favour of some Royalist who was to 
go to London to make his composition. 2 Near St. Albans 
the party was alarmed by the clatter of horses' hoofs, and 
feared pursuit, but it proved to be merely " a drunken man, 
well-horsed, riding violently." 3 

To this pathetic pass had twenty years of sovereignty 
and four years of war with half his subjects brought the 
King. Born to a slightly lower station he might have lived 
admired and respected, a great noble of dignified presence 
and carriage, a judicious patron of the arts, a model hus- 
band and father, his faults of indecision and duplicity never 

1 Gary, Memorials of the Civil War, i, 12. 

2 Gardiner, Great Civil War, ch. xli. 

3 Kingston's Herts during the Civil War, p. 61. 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 187 

leaping to the light; omnium consensu capax imperil nisi 
imperasset. But Nature had not fitted him to ape with 
success the masterful Tudors ; nor were the times propitious 
for such endeavours. And now, beaten in the field, involved 
in a web of fruitless scheming, he had taken the road which 
was to lead him to the scaffold. 

Disregarding Ashburnham's advice to take shipping from 
Lynn to Newcastle, Charles, after some negotiations with 
the Scots through Hudson and Montreuil, the French am- 
bassador, entered the Scottish camp on 5th May, and 
refusing to comply with Lothian's demand that he should 
sign the Covenant, was made a prisoner. Ashburnham was 
allowed to escape to Scotland, whence he made his way to 
France. 

It is unnecessary to follow the tangled proceedings of 
the next fifteen months during which Charles was surren- 
dered by the Scots to the Parliamentary Commissioners, 
conducted by them to Holmby House, taken charge of by 
Joyce's troopers and brought to Hampton Court, while the 
army occupied London. Through the interest of Sir Edward 
Ford with Ireton and Cromwell, who was now doing his 
utmost to arrange terms with the King, Ashburnham was 
allowed to rejoin him at Hampton Court. The King had 
written from Newcastle, whither the Scots had taken him, 
to the Queen on i$th May 1646: " I owe Jack nine thous- 
and two hundred pounds, which I earnestly recommend 
thou wouldst assist him in for his repayment." 1 On nth 
November the King, accompanied by Ashburnham, William 
Legge, and Sir John Berkeley, escaped unnoticed from 
Hampton Court, and two days later threw himself on the 
mercy of Robert Hammond, Governor of the Isle of Wight. 
Ashburnham and Berkeley had been sent forward from 
Titchfield to sound Hammond, and though they obtained 
no satisfactory assurances from him they brought him to 

1 Ashburnhanvs Narrative, ii, 138. 



i88 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the King. A vessel had been ordered from Southampton to 
convey the King, if necessary, to France, but owing to an 
embargo placed on all shipping as soon as his escape was 
discovered, it did not arrive. The King was much upset at 
his place of retreat being revealed to Hammond, and spoke 
to Ashburnham " with a very severe and reserved counten- 
ance, the first of that kind to me," as he says in his narra- 
tive. 1 Ashburnham promptly offered to murder Hammond 
and the captain he had brought with him ; but the King, 
after " walking some few turns in the room," declined this 
expedient, and decided to go with Hammond to Caris- 
brooke. Several attempts at escape thence were made: 
Ashburnham left the island and kept a barque in readiness 
at Hastings for some weeks ; 2 but they all proved fruitless, 
and the King remained a prisoner. 

Various friendly persons in Sussex were prepared for 
possible events. Mr. Wilson of Eastbourne Place "was 
entrusted with the important secret of what was intended. 
A letter was sent to him, by an express from the Earl of 
Dorset, with a little picture of the King enclosed (for fear 
of discovery) informing him that he should prepare to 
receive the original ; to which he returned this loyal answer, 
that he would do it with his life and fortune." 3 

Hastings appears at this time to have offered advan- 
tages to refugees. About the time that the King left 
Hampton Court, the Marquis of Ormonde, who had been 
concerned in the negotiations, and now found the country 
too hot to hold him, escaped from Hastings to Dieppe. 
" He in disguise, and without being attended by more than 
one servant, rode into Sussex and in an obscure and un- 
guarded port or harbour put himself on board a shallop 
which safely transported him into Normandy." 4 This ob- 
scurity later attracted the notice of Parliament. On 22nd 
August 1648, a "clerk of the passage" was appointed at 

1 Ashburnham's Narrative, ii, 117. 3 Ibid., p. 128. 

3 Wilson MSS. ; S. A. C., xi, 28. * Clarendon, x, 153. 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 189 

Hastings, the House " having information that dangerous 
persons pass that way into foreign parts." ' 

At the Restoration Ashburnham, who meantime had 
suffered much hardship, including "five years spent in 
close imprisonment in London, and three banishments to 
Guernsey Castle, the cause being for sending money to 
His Majesty," was restored to his position of groom of the 
bed-chamber. 

The estate of Ashburnham, which, according to a 
picturesque tradition, had been held by the family from 
Saxon times, and certainly for many generations, had been 
lost by his father, Sir John. By a fortunate marriage he 
was enabled to repurchase it. In 1629 he married Frances, 
only daughter and heiress of William Holland of West 
Burton in Sussex, nephew and chief heir of William 
Holland, Alderman of Chichester, who had amassed a con- 
siderable fortune in trade there, and was godfather of 
William Cawley the regicide. 2 The loss and recovery of 
the estate is mentioned on the monument of John Ash- 
burnham in Ashburnham church, which he rebuilt: " Here 
lyes in the Vault beneath John Ashburnham Esq of this 
place sonn to the unfortunate person S r John Ashburnham 
whose good nature and frank disposition towards two 
friends in being deeply engaged for them necessitated him 
to sell this place (in the family long before the Conquest) 
and all the estate he had elsewhere, not leaving to his wife 
and six children the least subsistence which is not inserted 
to the least disadvantage to his memory (God forbid it 
should be understood to be a charge of disrespect upon 
him) but to give God the prayse, who soe suddenly pro- 
vided both for his wife and children as that within less 
than two years after the death of the said S r John, there 
was not any of them but was in a condition rather to be 
helpful to others than to want support themselves. May 
God be pleased to add this blessing to his posterity that 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dxvi, 81. 2 S. A. C., xliii, 60. 



190 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

they may never be unmindful of the great things He 
hath done for them. . . . The said M r John Ashburnham 
married the daughter and heire of William Holland of 
Westburton in this County Esqre, who lyes also here 
interred, and by whom he had these eight children. She 
made the first stepp towards the recovery of some part of 
the inheritance wasted by the said Sir John, for she sould 
her whole estate to lay out the money in this place. She 
lived in great reputation for piety and discretion and died 
in the seven and thirtieth yeare of her age." l 

The matter of the escape of Charles from Hampton 
Court and his delivery to Colonel Hammond caused a good 
deal of controversy and recrimination. Ashburnham especi- 
ally was accused of having betrayed him, an accusation 
from which he was freely absolved by Charles II. His 
descendant, George, third Earl of Ashburnham, considering 
that some statements of Clarendon threw doubts on his 
honesty, wrote: "A vindication of his character and con- 
duct from the misrepresentations of Lord Clarendon." 2 
Samuel Pepys, writing in 1665, speaks of "my Lord 
Barkeley, one to whom only, with Jacke Ashburne and 
Colonel Legg, the King's removal to the Isle of Wight 
from Hampton Court was communicated; and (though 
betrayed by their knavery, or at best by their ignorance, 
insomuch that they have all solemnly charged one another 
with their failures therein, and have been at daggers- 
drawing publickly about it), yet now none greater friends in 
the world." 3 

A noticeable feature of the Civil War was the division of 
families; near relations not uncommonly took different 
sides. Perhaps at the outset the dividing line was a thin 
one ; but the first step once taken, the subtle influence of 
party tended to widen it. In Sussex such leading families 
as the Gorings and the Ashburnhams furnished recruits to 

1 S. A. C., xxxii, 19. 2 London, 1830. 

3 Pepys' Diary, ed. Wheatley, v, 162. 



- 






^ 
^ 



Ctxrt 



fat * 
' 



J,r /-A 



^,/<ft S ^^,-rt 



1C 



V>,V> 
,,/4 



>~C -K./V/" //%, csvnf. ' 
'+/',(/ A-*f an- f /,l<.+ ^ 

n->+t /y . if V T . I r .. .. 

<- ', 

t-Tf , < r. / , A/" 



-''I 



r/. . ' 

, r ,. 



' ' / ,'' ' 

^i^r//m 



LKTTER FROM COLONEL MORLEY TO SIR WILLIAM CAMPION. 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 191 

both parties. Colonel Anthony Stapley, member for the 
county throughout the war, and one of the King's judges, 
was married to a sister of Lord Goring, the great Cavalier 
leader. Sir Edward Ford, the Royalist High Sheriff, was, 
as we have seen, brother-in-law to Ireton, Cromwell's son- 
in-law. And it was not always the case that political 
division sapped family affection. As an instance of the 
entire absence of anything like bitterness of feeling in a 
large group of men and women, amongst whom were warm 
partisans, Mr. Gardiner quotes from a letter of the Royalist 
Edmund Verney, to his brother, the Roundhead Sir Ralph : 
" Although I would willingly lose my right hand that you 
had gone the other way, yet I will never consent that this 
dispute shall make a quarrel between us. I pray God 
grant a sudden and firm peace, that we may safely meet in 
person as well as affection. Though I am tooth and nail 
for the King's cause, and shall endure so to the death, 
whatever his fortune be; yet, sweet brother, let not this my 
opinion for it is guided by my conscience nor any other 
report which you can hear of me cause a diffidence of my 
true love to you." l 

And not only family affection, but the ties of friendship 
were sometimes strong enough to survive the estrangements 
of war. A number of letters which passed between the 
Royalist Sir William Campion, and Colonel Morley of 
Glynde, and are now preserved at Danny, the seat of Sir 
William's descendant, offer a pleasing picture of the kindly 
feeling of old friends who found themselves on opposite 
sides. 

COLONEL HERBERT MORLEY TO SIR WILLIAM CAMPION 

July 23rd 1645. 
" SIR, 

" Old acquaintance needs no apology. All your 
Sussex friends are in health, and continue their worthy 

1 Civil War, ch. iv. 



192 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

affections towards you, especially valewing your welfare 
with theire owne. I could impart more, but letters are 
subject to miscarriage, therefore I reserve myself to a more 
fit opportunity. If you please, in return hereof, to send me 
a character, I shall gladly send in cipher what I am un- 
willing to delineate. If a conference might be had, I con- 
ceive it would be most for the satisfaction of us both, to 
prevent any possible hazard of your person. If you please 
to let your lady meet me at Watford, or Berkhampsteed, 
or come hither, I will procure her a pass, and make it 
evidently appear that I am your most affectionate friend, 

HERBERT MORLEY. 

SIR WILLIAM CAMPION TO COLONEL MORLEY 

August ist 1645. 

" SIR, 

" I am glad to hear of my friends in Sussex. For 
any business you have to impart to me, I have that con- 
fidence in you, by reason of our former acquaintance, that 
I should not make any scruple to send my wife to the 
places mentioned; but the truth is, she is at present soe 
neare her time for lying downe, for she expects to be brought 
to bed within less than fourteen days, that she is altogether 
unfit to take soe long a journey. . . . Assure yourself that 
there is none living that shall be more glad to find out a way 
to serve you, than, Sir, 

" Your true friend and servant, 

" WILLIAM CAMPION." 

COLONEL MORLEY TO SIR WILLIAM CAMPION 

" SIR, 

" I beg I may love you without offence, although at 
Borstall, 1 and presume so far on our old friendship, as to 

1 Sir William Campion was in command of the garrison at Borstall 
House, in Buckinghamshire, which he defended with great resolution 
against the Parliamentary forces. 



y 



i I .A l KI < 

X. /& 2 



.. - , : 

- . / 

/yr X* /^>i ; 




/^ 



,^ ~#i t J,~ 




LETTER FROM COLONEL MORLEY TO SIR WILLIAM CAMPION, 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 193 

assure myself you stand so much upon your reputation, that 
you will use the bearer hereof, being an honest man whom 
your friends have persuaded to be their messenger, to 
convey their respects to you. I shall only desire you to 
send your ladye speedily among your friends here, not 
knowing how soon Oxford and your garrisom may be 
blocked up. I desire you will burn my letter as soon as 
you have read it, lest hereafter it may fall into such hands 
as may question me for holding correspondence with you. 
In what I can serve you, assure yourself you may command 

" Your affectionate servant 

" HERBERT MORLEY." 

The Lady Campion referred to in the above correspond- 
ence was Grace, daughter of Sir Thomas Parker of Ratton, 
Sussex. The Campions were not at that time in possession 
of Danny, but resided at Combwell in Kent, on the borders 
of Sussex. By a curious coincidence, Sir William was 
killed in a sortie during the siege of Colchester in 1648, 
when George Goring, Baron Goring of Hurstpierpoint, and 
Earl of Norwich, was in command. The Earl was son of 
George Goring of Ovingdean, the builder of Danny, and 
was at that time, or had been very lately, its possessor. 

Two years before his death, when Sir William was de- 
fending Borstall, he had a pleasant exchange of courtesies 
with the Parliamentary officer, Major Shilbourne, which 
recalls Waller's present of sack to Crawford at Alton in 
1643. 

" FROM MAJOR SHILBOURNE TO SIR WILLIAM 

CAMPION 
" SIR, 

" I received a message by my trumpet, whereby I 
understand you desire a rundlet of sack. Sir, I assure you 
there is none in this towne worth sending to soe gallant an 
enemy as yourselfe, but I have sent to London for a rund- 

O 



194 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

let of the best that can be got, and so soone as it comes to 
my hands I shall present it to you. For the meantime, 
Col. Theed hath sent you a taste of the best that is in 
Brill. I should be very happy if wee might meete and 
drink a bottle or two of wine with you. If it be not 
allowed your condition to honour me with soe high a 
favour, the civilities I have received engage me to acknow- 
ledge myself to be, 

" Sir, your servant, 

" THOS. SHILBOURNE." 

Brill, 1 4th April 1646. 

" SIR WILLIAM CAMPION TO MAJOR SHILBOURNE 

" I did tell your trumpet, that if you would send us 
some sacke, we would drinke your health; but you have 
expressed yourselfe soe faire, that I am afraid I shall not 
suddenly be able to requite it, neverthelesse I shall let slip 
noe opportunity for meeting of you. I should be glad to 
embrace an occasion, but by reason of the condition wee 
are in, I know it would not be consonant with myne 
honour. . . . But, if you please to favour me with your 
company here (which I am confident may be done without 
any prejudice at all to either) you and your friends shall 
receive the best entertainment the garrison can afforde, 
and a safe returne, and you shall much oblige him who is 
desirous to be esteemed of you, as 

" Sir, your servant, 

" W. C" 

This correspondence is not only interesting in itself, but 
valuable as evidence that after the stress of nearly four 
years' war, gentlemen on either side were still disposed to 
address each other in a friendly, even sometimes a frolic- 
some, spirit. The fact that as far, at all events, as the 
leading officers were concerned the war was not a war of 
classes; that they were drawn in the main from the same 



GOFFE AND ASHBURNHAM 195 

social stratum, often from the same groups of families; 
that their upbringing, their connections, and, apart from 
religious and political differences, their ideas of conduct 
were similar, goes far to explain the great and remarkable 
humanity with which this war was conducted, in an age 
not generally distinguished by a too squeamish delicacy. 
The treatment by both parties of the native Irish affords a 
very sharp contrast to their dealings with each other. 

The armed peace which succeeded the King's flight to 
the Scots and the surrender of Oxford lasted through 1647. 
But the revolution was entering a new phase. The struggle 
was no longer between the King and the Parliament, 
but between two sections of the victorious party, the New 
Model Army and the Independents on the one side, and 
the Presbyterians on the other. The Presbyterians, who 
had borne the brunt of the earlier part of the war, were 
now chafing under the iron rule of the army, and were 
anxious to see the King restored on terms. The tendency 
of the advanced section of the Independents was to ex- 
tremes; the "Levellers" were agitating for a new con- 
stitution with a " paramount law " establishing biennial 
parliaments, elected by manhood suffrage, to be supreme in 
legislation and administration ; and there was much talk 
of the People (with a capital letter) in terms which seem a 
foretaste of the French Revolution. The great mass of the 
inhabitants having no taste for military rule, had come to 
believe that no relief from the strain of political uncer- 
tainty and the burden of excessive taxation could be 
found except in the restoration of the King, and the libera- 
tion of the Parliament from military control. No doubt 
the extreme religious severity of the army, and the grow- 
ing intensity of Puritanism, as exemplified in the prohibi- 
tion of lawful games and amusements, disgusted many 
who at the outset had ranged themselves on the popular 
side. 



CHAPTER XII 

HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 

r I A HESE factors combined to produce a good deal of 
JL discontent, and the accession of some Presbyterian 
support was sufficient to fan the smouldering ashes of 
Royalism into a fresh flame. Open revolt broke out first 
in South Wales, but the south-eastern counties, which in 
the First Civil War had been almost solid for the Parlia- 
ment, gave the most trouble. Sussex followed the lead of 
Surrey. 

In May 1648 a petition to Parliament from the latter 
county was prepared, praying for a treaty with the King ; 
and on the i8th a procession of petitioners marched through 
the City shouting, " For God and King Charles ! " Arrived 
at Westminster they sent in their petition to the Houses. 
The Lords gave a brief acknowledgement, but no answer 
came from the Commons. Exasperated at the delay, some 
of the petitioners attacked the sentinels and endeavoured to 
force their way into the house, with cries of " An old King 
and a new Parliament ! " At this moment they were taken 
in the rear by a force of five hundred soldiers. An unequal 
struggle ensued, and the petitioners fled leaving West- 
minster Hall strewed with their wounded. Some took re- 
fuge in boats, whence they pelted the troops with any 
missiles that came to hand. The soldiers at length fired on 
them and so put an end to the riot. Of the petitioners about 
a hundred were wounded and some eight or ten killed. 1 

1 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. Ixii. 
196 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 197 

These proceedings do not appear to have daunted the 
malcontents in Sussex. On 9th June a petition was sent 
up to Parliament from the knights, gentlemen, clergy, and 
commonalty of the county begging that the King might 
be received to a safe treaty with the two Houses of Parlia- 
ment, and that the army might be paid and disbanded, the 
kingdom governed according to the known laws of the 
realm, the estates of the petitioners freed from taxes, and 
no garrisons maintained in their county. 1 

At the same time the Royalists in the neighbourhood of 
Horsham were very active, and were threatening reprisals 
on all who had declined to join in the petition. As a pre- 
cautionary measure the Parliament ordered the magazine 
at Horsham to be removed to safer keeping at Arundel ; 
but this was prevented. On 22nd June the Parliamentary 
officers, William Freeman, Richard Yates, and Nicholas 
Sheppard reported that they had endeavoured to effect 
this removal on the Qth, but were resisted by the bailiffs 
and constables of the disaffected party there, who still 
kept the arms and magazine under a strong guard, and 
threatened with death and plunder those who endeavoured 
to remove them, using very high words against the Parlia- 
ment. To a letter from Colonel Morley and Colonel 
Stapley, requiring the removal of the magazine to Arun- 
del Castle, they had replied with a refusal. " The malign- 
ant party have given out speeches that they will arm 
themselves with the first arms and rise as one man against 
all such as have not joined with them in a petition called 
the Sussex petition ; they likewise refuse to pay taxes or 
to yield any obedience to the ordinances of Parliament. 
Till your lordships remove the obstruction we cannot 
safely meet for getting in taxes for the army, or to do the 
Parliament any further service." 2 

1 House of Lords MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., Report vii), p. 30. For 
the full text of the petition see S. A. C., xix, 96. 

2 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 465. 



198 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

A week later Sir Thomas Pelham and others wrote from 
Lewes to the Speaker that the disaffected party at Hors- 
ham and its adherents were now employed in arming 
themselves from the magazine; "they continue together, 
and by beating of drum invite men unto them ; what in- 
fluence this disaster may have upon other parts of this county 
we know not, but have just cause to suspect the worst." 1 

Prompt steps were taken to crush this rising. On 29th 
June the Committee of both Houses wrote to the Com- 
mittee of Sussex that they had ordered to Horsham as 
large a body of horse as could be spared from Kent, and 
directing that such force as could be raised in Sussex 
should join it. 2 And to the Committee of Kent: " Let two 
or three troops of Colonel Rich's regiment, or the horse 
with Major Gibbons, march towards Horsham, so as to 
surprise the enemy there risen; to the officers there we 
have written to that effect. The gentlemen of Sussex will 
send someone to confer with you about this affair." 3 The 
trouble was evidently regarded in London as rather serious, 
for on 1st July a draft ordinance providing that Sussex 
should raise 4,547 gs. 5<, two troops of horse, and a com- 
pany of dragoons to suppress the insurrection there, was sent 
up from the Commons to the Lords, but negatived by them. 4 

The state of affairs at Horsham is well illustrated by a 
letter written at the time to an unnamed correspondent in 
London, and signed R. T. 5 

" SIR, 

" I received yours of 2/th June, and thank you for 
your intelligence. You tell me that upon the request of 

Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 719. 

a Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dxvi, 59. 3 Ibid. 

* House of Lords MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., Report vii), p. 34. 

5 It seems to me not improbable that the writer was Robert Tred- 
croft, son of Robert Tredcroft of Horsham, and his wife Ann Middleton 
of Hills Place, born 1598. His son Nathaniel was vicar of Horsham 
from 1647 to 1696. 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 199 

Colonel Morley, it was granted him of the House of Com- 
mons to raise our county of Sussex. Such are the sudden 
commotions of the times, that it is done already; so that 
the noble Colonel may now spare his pains unless he make 
extreme haste into this divided county. The country is 
generally risen about Horsham, and protest they will fight 
for the King and the country. At Pulborough they are in 
the same condition ; for the people there are much exas- 
perated to learn some of their neighbours are imprisoned 
by a warrant from Colonel Stapley and others for daring 
to petition the high and honourable Court of Parliament. 

" With us at Horsum, we are now 500 men in arms ; the 
reason was this: Upon Friday, June i6th the magazine 
which was laid up at this town was commanded by the 
Committee to Arundel ; but our countrymen are generally 
so ill affected that they rose with one consent, and two or 
three hundred appeared in an instant, leaving their mat- 
tocks and ploughs to rescue the swords and muskets. To 
the market house they came immediately, and cause David 
(who thanks God he is well minded in these times) and the 
rest of the pious zealots who had loaded their carts with 
arms to carry them back into the market loft. Since then 
these stout rustics have endured watching every night, and 
by turns have attended the arms, some nights sixty at a 
time. 

"On Tuesday night, at a full assembly in the market 
place, it was voted unreasonable (unreasonable, as Master 
Chatfield l said of the petition) to watch there any longer, 
and resolved, upon the question, that the following being 
Wednesday, at the sound of drums and ringing of bells, 
those men both in town and country, who were resolved to 
fight for the King and the liberties of the country against 
the encroachment of one Freeman 2 and his fellows shall 
come in and take what arms they pleased. About eleven 
of the clock yesterday there was a great appearance, two or 
1 See ante, p. 137. 2 M.P. for Horsham 1659. 



200 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

three hundred at least, every one chose his musket and other 
arms, and then they marched out to train on the Common. 

" On this day, June 2Qth, there came as many more 
countrymen, expecting arms likewise; so that there are 
now five or six hundred well-armed, and many of them 
have very good horses. This we doubt will be the beginning 
of sorrow to our distressed country ; for all the well affected 
begin to leave us; and then what can we expect but 
mischief? 

" As soon as the drums beat, Capt. Sheppard felt himself 
not well ; his belly ached as if he feared the Egyptians 
would make a drum of it; and he thought but to go to 
Lewes for some physic. Lieutenant Honeywood, that 
knocking agitator, left his forge and went to London for 
some forces. Mistress Chatfield advised her husband to 
withdraw, for fear they should do him more mischief than 
with songs. The soldiers say that if they had known of 
their going they would have held their stirrups ; their words 
and demands are very high; as yet they hurt no man, but 
threaten to disarm three or four, which is the total number 
of us who are well affected. . . . 

" To conclude, our fears are great ; the country is risen 
both here and at Pulborough ; and they pretend the bottom 
of the business to be because their petition was not answered. 
Bold varlets! had they been answered as their neighbours 
the Surrey men were, perhaps they would have been as 
they ; but the better we use them the worse they appear. 
Their number is so great, and likely to increase so much, 
that unless a thousand be sent down presently they are 
like to be as high here as in Essex. For your coming down 
I do not know what to advise you; if you come, your 
person will be in danger, if you come not with your arms. 
Farewell, 

" R. T." l 

1 A broadsheet preserved among the Thomason tracts in the British 
Museum (669 f. 12 [60]). "A letter from Horsum in Sussex, relating 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 201 

Another letter from S. G., dated Steyning, 5th July 1648, 
was printed in London. 1 It describes the unrest of the 
peasantry : " They are yet most countrymen, none of any 
great quality assists them . . . parties are coming unto 
them from Brighthelmston, Shoram, Steining and other 
parts . . . they intend to make good Bramber and Beed- 
ing Bridge . . . this is a very malignant county." Truly a 
remarkable change from the attitude of the Sussex popula- 
tion at the commencement of the war. 

The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, one of the 
peers who had remained faithful to the Parliamentary 
cause throughout, was appointed to the command of the 
horse in Sussex, 3 but he does not appear to have acted 
within the county. The style of this nobleman's conversa- 
tion did not accord with the prevailing fashion, and was 
frequently burlesqued. A pretended report of his speech to 
the University of Oxford, of which he was Chancellor, at 
his visitation in April 1648 runs as follows: "You know 
what a coyle I had ere I could get hither, Selden did so 
vex us with his law and his reasons, we could get nothing 
passed; my friends voted bravely, else Selden had carried 
it. 'Sdeath, that fellow is but a burgess for Oxford and I 
am Chancellour, and yet he would have the Parliament 
hear his law, and reasons against their own Chancellour. 
I thank you for giving me a gilded Bible, you could 
not give me a better book (dam me, I think so). I love the 
Bible, though I seldom use it." 3 

Early in July Sir Michael Livesay, with a regiment of 

the present estate of that county to his friend in London." By R. T. 
1648. 

1 B.M., Thomason tracts, pressmark E. 451 (13). 

8 S. A. C., v, 88. 

3 Speech of Philip Herbert, late Earl of P. and M. and M.P. for 
Berks, April 6, 1649, without Oaths, folio. News from Pembroke and 
Montgomery, or Oxford Manchestered, as here it follows, Word for 
Word, and Oath for Oath, 4to, 1648, alluding to the Visitation of 
Cambridge by the Earl of Manchester. S. A. C., v, 88. 



202 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

horse, arrived at Horsham, and took the town with little 
trouble. The insurgents were driven from the streets into 
the outskirts, and desultory firing went on for some hours, 
with the result that one soldier and three citizens were 
killed. The Parish Register records the burial of " Edward 
Filder, by the soldiers thrusting a sword through the 
window of his house in the back lane; William Baker, in 
the hop gardens belonging to Nicholas Sturt; and Thomas 
Marshall, gent., was followed into East Street and killed 
near Thomas Michell's door." According to a family tradi- 
tion, John Michell of Stammerham lost his life in this 
engagement, and his son was wounded. 1 

On /th July the Committee sent their thanks to Sir 
Michael Livesay for his care and success in this business. 2 
In Horsham his troops caused great dissatisfaction by their 
" disorders and plunderings without distinction of friend or 
enemy," and in the following year, being again quartered 
in the county, proved a great burden " both by their free 
quarter and their disorderly carriage." 

After the outbreak was quelled, Thomas Middleton, who 
in an earlier year had been regarded with suspicion, 3 was 
sent up to London in custody ; the other delinquents were 
allowed to compound for their estates by paying one-fourth 
of their value. Among them were William Marlett and 
John Shelley of Sullington. On 28th July the Commons 
ordered that it be referred to the Committee of Sussex, out 
of the compositions, fines, and sequestrations of the estates 
of such delinquents as were engaged in the late tumult at 
Horsham, not being formerly sequestered, to give reason- 
able satisfaction to such of the Parliament's friends as have 
been plundered and damaged by the enemy or others in 
the late tumult, as the said Committee should think fit, 
and that they had power to compound with such delin- 
quents for that purpose. 4 

1 Hunt's Horsham, p. 17. 2 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dxvi, 61. 

3 See ante, p. 80. * Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dxvi, 76. 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 203 

The cases of Thomas Middleton and his son John were 
before the Committee for compounding for a long time. 
The estate was sequestrated by the County Committee, but 
Middleton appealed to the Barons of Exchequer, by whom 
he was acquitted of delinquency on i6th November 1651; 
and the Committee for compounding ordered the Sussex 
Committee to refund to the father and the son the money 
received out of the estate. 1 The matter does not seem to 
have been finally disposed of till 1655. 

The Committee was more successful with the smaller fry. 
Several persons of little means were fined in 1649 for "tak- 
ing up arms in the late insurrection in Sussex." William 
Pearse of Nuthurst was fined at one-sixth, 3 6s. 8d. 2 Henry 
Wood of Horsham at one-sixth, 3 4$-. od? John Wood 
of Nuthurst at one-sixth, i i$s. $d. Wood complained in 
1651 that the estate settled for his poor mother's relief and 
for payment of his debts was " sequestered or seized for his 
pretended delinquency"; and begged liberty to examine 
witnesses in proof of his innocence. He had nothing to live 
on but his work, being a day labourer for 6d. or I2d. a day, 
and was not able to appeal. He had sent up his fine, but it 
was rejected, for what cause he knew not. 4 

Another abortive rising occurred in East Sussex an 
attempt by Major Anthony Norton 5 to seize the garrison 
at Rye. In an inquiry with reference to the sequestration 
of his estate in 1651, it was alleged against him that in 
1648 he was in arms against the Parliament, and persuaded 
others to join the late King's forces; that he threatened to 
take away the lives and goods of friends of the Parliament, 
and to take the keys of Rye magazine, and have the 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 2232-4. 

* Ibid., 1986. 3 Ibid., 1987. ^ Ibid. 

s Presumably the Anthony Norton, Gent., a brewer and freeman of 
Rye, who signed the " Engagement " of 1649-50 to be true and faithful 
to the Government as then established, without a King, or a House 
of Lords. See Mr. Inderwick on The Rye Engagement, S. A. C., 
xxxix, 1 6. 



204 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

ammunition for the King. That he raised horses and arms, 
and in person directed the fortification of Blackwell Wall 
against Major Gibbons, the Parliamentary commander, and 
that having collected sixty men in arms he declared he 
would oppose the entry of the Parliament forces into 
Sussex, and encouraged others to assist in the Kentish 
rebellion. 1 Major Norton was easily routed by Major Gib- 
bons, who on 1 4th August received the thanks of the Com- 
mittee of both Houses for his good services in securing the 
town of Rye, where he was directed to remain until further 
orders. 2 Anthony Norton does not seem to have learnt 
wisdom. At any rate a person of that name was in trouble 
at Rye in August 1654, for using scandalous words. One 
Mark Hounsell deposed that walking in the highway from 
Playden in the previous May he heard Anthony Norton 
say, as they were talking of the fighting at sea, that there 
were none but rogues that fought against the King, and 
that Cromwell and all that followed him were rogues. The 
reason he did not disclose these words to the Mayor and 
Jurats before was that the said Anthony Norton owed him 
some money, and he wished to get his money first. 3 

These Royalist outbreaks, somewhat foolhardy as they 
appear now, were stimulated by the advance of the Scottish 
army under Hamilton into England, and occasioned much 
nervousness in London. On igth August the Committee 
wrote to the Committee at Chichester that there was a 
design by some malignants to seize the city, which if 
effected would cause great prejudice to the kingdom, as 
shown in the case of Colchester. They were instructed to 
keep a vigilant eye on all motions in those parts. 4 With 
the crushing defeat of the Scots army by Cromwell on 
1 7th August, and the capitulation of Colchester, which had 

1 Cal. Proceedings, Com. for Advance of Money, pp. 1350-1. 
a Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dxvi, 81. 

3 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 223. 

4 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dxvi, 81. 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 205 

stood a long siege under the Earl of Norwich, to Fairfax 
ten days later, the Second Civil War practically came to 
an end. Its result was to throw the reins of power more 
fully into the hands of the army chiefs, especially Crom- 
well. They had at their command a superb and never- 
defeated force of nearly 50,000 men, irresistible in the 
strength of unrivalled discipline and religious fervour. It 
was composed for the greater part of a class superior to 
the rank and file of most armies men who were anxious 
to return to their civil occupations, but could be depended 
on to obey a summons to arms if required. For the next 
ten years, with the exception of the short campaign of 
1651, England knew internal peace, but it was peace im- 
posed and maintained by the sword. 

It was indeed high time that the land should have peace. 
Not only were the national finances in a hopeless state of 
disorganization, but the ever pressing need for more money 
caused the imposition of fresh and burdensome taxation. 
In the early days of the war the Parliament had to live 
from hand to mouth, and to pay its forces from such chance 
sources as occurred, such as Royalist fines and composi- 
tions. Later the assessment raised by monthly payments 
from the counties for the support of the New Model Army 
was estimated at .641,000 a year, 1 but in Sussex, at any 
rate, it does not seem to have been regularly paid. In an 
agricultural county like Sussex, the continual drain of able- 
bodied men to the colours must have tended to impoverish- 
ment, only partially mitigated by the excellent business 
done at the ordnance factories. The excise " that Dutch 
divill, excise, that insensibly devoures the poore and will 
impoverish the rich " was levied not only on food and 
drink, but on goods of almost every description, and pressed 

1 R. O. Audit Office Declared Accounts. 

2 From A List of the Names of the Members of the House of 
Commons . . . together with such sums, etc. as they have given them- 
selves for service done. 



206 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

on all classes. And its collection seems sometimes to have 
been attended with great hardship. " When plundering 
troops killed all the poor countrymen's sheep and swine, 
and other provisions, whereby many honest families were 
ruined and beggared, these unmerciful people would force 
excise out of them for those very goods which the others 
had robbed them of; insomuch that the religious soldiers 
said they would starve before they would be employed in 
forcing it, or take any of it for their pay." ' 

The amount of the excise on food was generally five per 
cent.; "all beefs muttons veals porks lambs and other 
butcher's meat, to be killed for provision of victuals, shall 
pay one shilling in every twenty shillings value of the 
beast when he is living." Every butcher had to render a 
weekly account of his killings ; in default of a true return 
he incurred a penalty of double the duty, and was pro- 
hibited from carrying on business for twelve months. The 
tax amounted to a halfpenny on each rabbit, and a penny 
a dozen on pigeons. Householders killing for their own 
consumption were bound to make a return and pay the 
duty. 

The agriculturists no doubt did what they could to pro- 
tect themselves. Rents were very grudgingly paid, even on 
the estates of the great landowners who adhered to the 
Parliament. In the five years ending in 1646, the Earl of 
Northumberland had lost either by actual damage or by 
the non-payment of rents 42,^00^ The wages of agri- 
cultural labourers remained in the early years of the war 
at the same level as previously, that is, at yd. a day, with 
a tendency to rise to &/. 3 These wages were fixed by the 
justices of the peace, who seem to have acted fairly in view 
of the circumstances. The year 1646 was the first of a 
series of six years in which the harvest was uniformly bad. 

1 Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, p. 271. 
* Hist. MSS. Com., Report iii, 86. 
3 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. xlvi. 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 207 

The price of wheat, which in plentiful years averaged about 
30^. a quarter, rose to an average of 65.?. ^\d. in the three 
years from 1647-9; an d oats, rye, and pease, the staple 
food of the labourer, in like proportion. Meat rose in price 
about 50 per cent. 1 Through this period agricultural wages 
were gradually increased, until in 1651 they were fixed at 
is. 2d. a day. 

Yet in spite of the trouble of the times, the stress of war, 
increased taxation and diminished rents, it appears that 
some of the nobility and country gentry were still able to 
maintain their customary state and lavish expenditure. 
The household accounts of Lord Dacre at Herstmonceux 
Castle from August 1643 to December 1649 were carefully 
kept and have been preserved; 3 they give a remarkable 
insight into the economy of a large country house in Sussex 
at the time. 

Francis Lord Dacre was born in 1619, and was therefore 
about twenty-three years of age when war broke out. He 
was nearly related to Sir William Waller, and himself took 
an active part on the Parliamentary side. In a letter to 
Lord Grey of Werke, the deputy Speaker of the House, 
written from Herstmonceux on 22nd January 1643, 
he says: 

" On Wednesday night I received your lordship's of the 
ninth of this month, and would have most gladly obeyed 
the commands of the House of Peers, by coming presently 
away to wait on the affairs of this kingdom on the 22nd, 
had not the ways ever since been so extremely clogged by 
a very deep snow, that men pass not without much diffi- 
culty and danger. I beseech your lordship to add to this 
reason the weakness of my own health, not being able to 
endure the rigour of the journeying on horseback in such 

1 Rogers, Hist, of Agriculture and Prices, v, 205, 623; vi, 54, 286. 

2 See the interesting article by T. Barrett Lennard in S. A. C., xlviii, 
from which the following particulars are drawn. 



208 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

exceeding cold weather, as now it is; and to represent this 
to their lordships' favourable constructions; not that J 
intend to make long use of any way to excuse myself from 
that duty, which I shall ever owe to the Commonwealth, 
but very shortly shall give my attendance on their lord- 
ships with all willingness and readiness. And so I rest 
" Your lordship's 

" Most humble servant 

" FRANCIS DACRE." 

He strongly opposed the ordinance for the King's trial, 
and was one of the twelve Roundhead peers who attended the 
House of Lords in January 1649 among the others being 
Manchester, Northumberland, Pembroke, and Denbigh 
and unanimously rejected it. 

Considering the size of Herstmonceux and the constant 
entertainment of guests there, the number of servants is 
not remarkably large. About twenty indoor and outdoor 
menservants, including grooms, gardeners, falconers, etc., 
and about ten women seem to make up the total. Only 
two gardeners were kept, the chief receiving 2 IDS. a 
quarter, the usual wages of the upper servants, and the 
under man only i$s. The regular servants were all given 
board and lodging. A woman who helped to weed in the 
garden was paid ^d. a day. Casual labourers seem to have 
received is. a day in 1644; four men were paid i 45. for 
six days' work in digging up young trees and planting 
them in the park. Thomas Edmonds, the cook, received 
3 a quarter, the coachman and grooms half that amount, 
the postilian i. 

The cost of bread consumed by the household, which, of 
course, did its own baking, seems to have varied from ,i 
to 2 6s. 8d. per week. The amount of beer consumed was 
prodigious; it is calculated by Mr. Lennard at an average 
consumption of eight gallons per week to every man, 
woman, and child in the castle. But it is possible that a 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 209 

good deal may have been given away to outside labourers. 
Claret was purchased at about 2s. a gallon, and sack " for 
my ladies use " at $s. The variety of fare consumed was 
very great. About thirty different kinds of fish appear in 
the accounts, including crabs, 4 for I s. ; herrings, 4 for 2d. ; 
lobsters, 5 for 2s. Sal. ; mackerel, 40 for 2s. 8d. ; oysters, 2d. 
to 3^. per dozen; fresh salmon, 5-y. each; soles, 7 for 
2s. 4.d. ; sprats, 300 for is. 6d.; mullet, unpriced. 1 

Game and poultry were also in great abundance and 
variety, nearly forty different kinds being enumerated. 
They include capons, is.', chickens, $d. ; ducks, 6d.; geese, 
i s. 6d. ; quails, four dozen for 24$-., bought from a French 
ship; turkeys, 2s. ; wheatears, $d. per dozen ; and woodcocks, 
4d. each. 

The beef and mutton required for the castle were pro- 
vided from the home farm, so that there is no record of 
their purchase. Of articles of grocery, sugar was bought at 
lod. a pound, raisins at 4^., cloves at Sd. per oz., and pepper 
at \\d. 

Among the numerous visitors to the castle were the 
Lords Nottingham, Westmoreland, Montague, and Stam- 
ford peers of the same political convictions as Lord 
Dacre and Sir William Waller, his kinsman. Lady Anne 
Waller seems to have brought an army of followers; in 
August 1647 sne was staying at Herstmonceux with two 
sons and three daughters, one gentlewoman, a nurse, and 
four maid and six men servants. If the castle wanted many 
appointments now considered essential, there were, at any 
rate, feather beds and warming pans; and a cooper's bill 
for sundry work includes " putting 4 hoops to the bathing 
tub." 

1 " Arundel mullets, as they say here, 

Are the best in England for good cheer 
But at 6d. the pound 'tis pretty dear." 

From Thomas Baskerville's Journeys in England, temp. Chas. II. 
Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 276. 

P 



210 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

War had not entirely killed sport. There are copious 
references in the accounts to hawking, coursing, and shoot- 
ing. It is curious to read at this date of partridges being 
turned out : " Paid Mr. Shoarditch for 5 partridges to be 
turned abroad 2s. 6d" But Lord Dacre's own favourite 
diversion was his "yought," which he kept at Pevensey. 
He was probably the first of English yachtsmen. The 
accounts show that the yacht sailed at times certainly as 
far as London. John Waters, " pillate," was paid 2 los. 
for conducting her home from Gravesend. 

Lord and Lady Dacre drove abroad in a coach-and-six ; 
on one occasion his lordship hired a coach to travel down 
from London, and paid 4. "js. for it, with his " benevolence " 
for the coachman 5^. Considering the difficulties of Sussex 
travel this does not seem excessive, but it was in the month 
of June, when the roads would probably be in good con- 
dition. Under the Commonwealth the cost of coach hire 
was fixed at 2Os. a day for four horses, and los. a day for 
two, to travel upon the roads to and from London thirty 
miles a day " excepting in Sussex roads, which being 
worst and hardest for journeying, shall be travelled as far 
only as is reasonable, or as shall be agreed or undertaken 
by the coachman upon hire." l On one occasion 4^. 6d. was 
paid for " a jornaye to Rye after enquirie of a box which 
my lady expected out of France." 

It is indeed a refreshment to turn from the horrors of 
war, the sufferings of ejected clergy, and ruined Royalists 
and plundered peasants, to this smiling sketch of peace and 
plenty. It suggests that in our preoccupation with the 
great game of politics, and its results, we are apt to regard 
the stirring events which were seized upon by sensational 
pamphleteers, and were the daily bread of excitable poli- 
ticians, as affecting the general life of the community more 
deeply than they actually did. And the rapid rise of Eng- 

1 Perfect Diurnal, 2nd January 1655. 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 211 

land under Cromwell to a commanding position in Europe 
and at sea may point to the fact that the devastation 
wrought by the Civil War was less complete than we are 
sometimes inclined to believe. Fascinated by the lurid 
scenes which fill the foreground of the picture, we fail to 
observe that the surrounding landscape is but slightly 
clouded. 

Yet even into the peaceful Eden of Herstmonceux the 
serpent entered. A few years later Major-General Goffe 
wrote from Chichester to Secretary Thurloe : " The Lord 
Dakers is gone beyond sea upon some discontent betwixt 
him and his lady." l 

With these particulars of the economy of the household 
of a peer it may not be out of place to compare some items 
in the expenditure of a well-to-do country parson during 
the Protectorate. The Rev. Giles Moore was admitted 
rector of Horsted Keynes in 1655. The parsonage was in 
so ruinous a state that it cost him 250 to make it fit to 
dwell in. His "yearly servant" John Dawes received a 
wage of .5, and a maid-servant, Rose Colman, 3 per 
annum. Jobbing gardeners were paid is. a day. On one 
of Mr. Moore's visits to London he purchased some fruit 
trees for his garden " an apricock tree is. 8d. ; an orange 
tree 8d. ; a pair of royal Windsor paires is. &d. ; two Kentish 
pippins 2s. qd. ; two Flanders cherryes 2s. 6d. ; twenty six 
young roots of Provence roses $s. 6d. ; one gallon of straw- 
berries is. 6d.; for 8 young apple trees I payd Js" Mr. 
Moore went to London once or twice a year, and on each 
occasion bought a number of books. " I bought in London 
of Mr. Clarke at Mercers Chapel, Grotius de Jure Belli 
etc. 5-y.; of a bookseller in Little Bretagne, Camden's 
Britannia, 1 14^." Soon after his induction he purchased 
a present for the wife of his patron. " I payed to Alderman 
Hinde, in Lumbard Street, goldsmith, for a faire silver 

1 i3th November 1655. Thurloe, State Papers, iv, 190. 



212 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

tankard of 3802., which, at $s. yd. anoz., came to ^"10 15^.3^.; 
for engraving thereupon Mr. Michelborne's 1 and his wyfe's 
arms, on whom it was bestowed, and for a cabinet given to 
Mistress Anne, at the same time that the other was given 
her mother, 1 $s." He did not neglect his creature com- 
forts during these visits to town. " 5th Aug. I went to 
London, coming againe on the 8th. I spent on a fishe 
dinner at the Crowne and Harpe, Old Fleet St., 8^. 6d. 
Spent other wise 2s. 4^.; oastler 2s. 6d.\ tapster is. ^d. I 
bought of my countryman Mr. Cooper a new hat costing 
together with the band 1 $s." 

Bed-furniture and other household stuff was purchased 
of "William Clowson, upholsterer itenerant, living over 
against the Crosse at Chichester, but who comes about the 
country with his packs on horseback." Mrs. Moore seems 
to have had little control over the family expenditure. " I 
gave my wyfe 1 $s. to lay out at St. James' faire at Lind- 
field, all which shee spent except 2s. 6d., which shee never 
returned mee." But she seems to have done a little farming 
on her own account. " I bought of my wyfe a fat hog to 
spend in my family, for the which I payed the summe of 
30^. ; the 2 flitches of bacon, when dryed, weighed 64 Ib. 
I gave her to buy a qr. of lambe $s. 6d" 

Considering the value of money at the time groceries 
and similar articles were exceedingly expensive. " I bought 
a Cheshire cheese of 13 Ib. weight 5^. 8<af.; for 2 dozen of 
lemons and basket I gave 2s. 2d. ; 8 Ib. of raisins at yd. the 
Ib., 4^. 3^.; 10 Ib. of powder sugar at yd. the Ib., 6s. 3^.; 
i Ib. of white powder sugar lod. ; i Ib. of pepper -$d. ; I Ib. 
of cherries iod.\ 2 oz. of tobacco is." With tobacco at 8s. 

1 William Michelborne, of Horsted Keynes and Stanmer, eldest 
surviving son and heir of Sir Richard Michelborne, was born about 
1601, and married in 1631 Anne, daughter of Laurence Ashburnham 
of Broomham, Esq., by his first wife, Sybil, daughter of George Goring 
of Danny, Esq. Their daughter Anne was born in 1633. See Notes 
on the Family of Michelborne, by Col. F. W. T. Attree, F.S.A., late 
R.E., in S. A. C., 1. 



HORSHAM AND HERSTMONCEUX 213 

a pound the labourer in receipt of is. a day can scarcely 
have enjoyed a pipe. 

Clothing was also dear. " I bought at Sir G. Lr. Hunt's 
Sons partner, at the signe of the Ship in St. Paul's Church 
Yd., 2 yds. of blackish cloth, costing mee 1 2s. ; a yard 
of velvett, 2.5. 6d. ; a satin cap plaited 5*. ; 13 yds. of grass 
greene serge at $s. $d. the yd., and for greene silke fringe 
at i s. %d. the oz. in all 2 i6s." " For 3 yards and of 
scarlet serge, of which I made the library cupboard carpet, 
besydes my wastcoate made thereof, 1 5 s." " For a payr of 
gray woollen stockings I payd 3^. ; for a payr of worsted, 
which I bought in London 6s. qd. Lent to my brother 
Luxford at the Widdow Newports, never more to be 
scene! is." 1 

1 The Journal of the Rev. Giles Moore; S. A. C., i, 65-127. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE REVOLUTION 

THE events of 1648 strengthened the extreme party 
in the army which held that the King ought not to be 
restored on any terms whatever, but brought to trial and 
deposed as a public enemy. In October 1648 Ireton drew 
up The Remonstrance of the Army, in which he developed 
two theses, the danger of continuing to treat any longer 
with the King, and the justice and expediency of bringing 
him to trial. In addition, the " Sovereignty of the People," 
the moderate punishment of delinquents, and the advis- 
ability of paying the soldiers' arrears of pay were discussed. 
On 1 8th November the Council of Officers adopted the 
Remonstrance. 

An interesting petition to Fairfax, the Lord-General, 
was sent at this time by Mr. Samuel Jeake and others of 
Rye: 

" We earnestly crave that amongst the midst and multi- 
plicity of your weighty agitations, these our few petitionary 
proposals may have admission into your serious thoughts, 
which out of our faithful affection to your honour and 
tender care of the weale of the Republic we as humbly as 
earnestly remonstrating both declare and desire; 

" First, that as we do fully adhere to your late Remon- 
strance and are resolved to venture lives and fortunes in 
defence of the Army in the just prosecution of it; so do 
we desire that no delays (as conceiving them altogether 
unsafe) may be admitted thereon. 

214 



THE REVOLUTION 215 

" 2ly. Considering that want of care and vigilancy (as 
well as fidelity) in Committees and others be-trusted with 
public affairs hath been the seminary of many evils in this 
kingdom, we entreat that care may be taken to refine 
them, and that such as shall in any ways be obstructers 
of justice either by opposing it, or not improving their 
intrusted power to that purpose may be excluded, and 
also that the like sedulity may be used in removing the 
Committee of Accompts and appointing others in their 
places, they being such whose endeavours are more to 
ensnare than to advance the public good. 

" 3ly. The kingdoms groaning under the burden of free- 
quarter and unreasonable taxes, occasioned by the un- 
faithful dealing of those entrusted with the public treasure, 
requires (as we humbly conceive) some exquisite search, 
and those being found that have anyway abused the State 
by such fraudulent practices, as to design the public treasure 
to their own private advantage deserve to be severely dealt 
withal. 

" 4.1y. Minding the nakedness of these marine parts and 
the great dangers we lie exposed to, if any new commo- 
tions (which God forbid) should break forth, we earnestly 
sue that some careful provision may be made for the sea- 
coast, and especially near this place, the better to strengthen 
the hands of the kingdom's friends, and to prevent (at 
present) unthought-of mischiefs. 

" 5ly. Being grieved to hear the slanderous aspersions 
the Army is and hath been loaded with, notwithstanding 
its desert to the contrary : we heartily desire that all such 
as shall be known to asperse them or to act or speak 
against their proceedings in reference to the execution of 
justice and righteousness may be brought to condign pun- 
ishment. 

" 61y. The principal actors in and abettors of our miser- 
able differences by reason of connivance in some, alliance 
in others, with other such wiseblinding bribes, have re- 



216 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

gained strength to rally again and again, when we had 
well hoped they were irrecoverable: wherefore we humbly 
intreat your Honour that some Commissioners may be 
appointed to find out the actors and fomentors of the late 
war and bringing in of the Scots, and being found to 
secure them or otherwise, without superficial dealing in 
matters of this concernment, yet a special care be had of 
the non-oppressing their families. 

" /ly. Because of the distance of this and many other 
garrisons from the head-quarters, and the necessity of 
intelligence from thence to animate the soldiery and well- 
affected residing therein, to join with and in defence of 
the just proceedings of the Army; we therefore humbly 
beseech that there may be an impartial communication of 
the actions of the Army to the respective garrisons that 
shall remonstrate with them by such actors as each garri- 
son shall to that purpose appoint, and that all such of the 
country as either have or shall show themselves worthy 
to be confided in may be put in a posture of defence." l 

As an attempt to express an opinion on the burning 
question of the day, and at the same time to call attention 
to local grievances, this petition is ingenious. And that 
such a Puritan town as Rye should hail the army as 
saviour is a sign of the times. 

This is not the place to discuss the justice or policy of 
the trial and execution of the King. We are concerned 
mainly with the prominent part which was played in them 
by Sussex men. And the different courses taken by Sussex 
members of Parliament in this crisis are examples of the 
varying shades of Parliamentary opinion. 

The army chiefs who directed the transaction having 
once made up their minds that the King's removal was 

1 S. A. C., ix, 54. Dr. Smart there expresses the opinion that the 
address, which is undated, was written in June 1647. But it seems 
obviously posterior to the Scottish invasion and the Remonstrance of 
1648. 



THE REVOLUTION 217 

necessary to the safety of the State, or to their control of 
it, at least shrank from none of the consequences of their 
determination. They scorned to take advantage of such 
easier methods as assassination, and strove to clothe their 
acts in some semblance of a legal process, even though 
they could only do so by constituting a revolutionary 
tribunal. By this decisive act, deliberately planned and 
publicly done, they set the seal to their own proceedings ; 
they converted what was before a successful insurrection 
into a definite revolution. 

An apologist for the regicides might urge the personal 
ground that if the King had got the upper hand he would 
have given the Roundhead leaders a short shrift. The gist 
of the whole matter is to be found in Manchester's plea 
for peace four years before. "If we beat the King ninety 
and nine times, yet he is King still, and so will his pos- 
terity be after him, but if the King beat us once we shall 
all be hanged, and our posterity be made slaves"; to 
which Cromwell replied : " My lord, if this be so, why 
did we take up arms at first? this is against fighting ever 
hereafter, if so, let us make peace, be it never so base"; 1 
and in Cromwell's oft-quoted saying " that if he met the 
King in battle, he would fire his pistol at him as at 
another." 

If there was one person whose reputation came out of 
the affair not only with credit but with glory, it was the 
King. He who through long years of intrigue had played 
the anti-national part, and had disgusted the better sort 
among his followers with his eagerness to invoke foreign 
aid against his own subjects, became at one stroke a 
national hero. Few men by the manner of their death 
have seemed to give a greater impetus to the cause for 
which they died. Yet that cause in its essentials was 
destroyed beyond resuscitation. Carlyle's exultant paean 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, diii, 56, ix 



218 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

over the blow struck by the English regicides at " Flun- 
keyism Cant and Cloth-worship " l seems strangely beside 
the mark. Flunkeyism and cloth-worship have flourished 
since with unexampled vigour. It was on the substance, 
not on the externals, that the blow fell. The Stuarts 
indeed came back, but on a very different footing from 
Charles's idea of sovereignty, and soon to be curtly dis- 
missed almost without a struggle. The Church came back, 
but not the Church of Laud. If we regard the execution 
as at once an evil and a foolish deed, we yet must own 
that it heralded the birth of a new England, free at home, 
and great beyond the seas. And that these men should 
dare to treat a king as " a public officer who had criminally 
betrayed his trust," put a different complexion on kingship 
in the minds of countless thousands. 

The Parliament which was to set up a Court to try the 
King was by no means the same Parliament which for six 
years had alternately waged war against and negotiated 
with him. In December the army, fresh from its victory 
over the Scots at Preston, had entered London and quietly 
filled the approaches to Westminster. On the 6th and 7th 
Westminster Hall was occupied by troops, and Colonel 
Pride, acting under the orders of Lord Grey of Groby, him- 
self a member, " purged " the house of one hundred and 
forty-three members, whom he placed under arrest. The 
remaining members, who continued to sit, became by this 
act the mere creatures of military violence. The army was 
their master, and through them the master of the State. 2 
On 6th January, after much discussion and some altera- 
tions, an Act was finally passed constituting a Court to 
consist of one hundred and thirty-five Commissioners, who 
were to be both judges and jury, to try Charles Stuart for 
having " had a wicked design totally to subvert the ancient 
and fundamental laws and liberties of the nation, and in 

1 Cromwell's Letters, Ixxxvi. 

2 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. Ixviii. 



THE REVOLUTION 219 

their place, to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical gov- 
ernment," and on other counts. 

Among the Commissioners were the following Sussex 
men, Colonel Goffe, one of the military members of the 
Commission, and nine Members of Parliament: Herbert 
Morley, John Fagge, Roger Gratwick, Anthony Stapley, 
Peregrine Pelham, James Temple, William Cawley, Sir 
Gregory Norton, and John Downes. Colonel Morley at- 
tended the trial on three days, including the opening, but 
declined to sign the death-warrant; Colonel Fagge, who 
had married Morley's sister Mary, also sat, but rather as 
assisting in the preliminaries than as a judge, and he also 
did not sign the death-warrant. Roger Gratwick did not 
sit. 

The actual trial began on 2Oth January; when the roll 
was called sixty-eight of the judges answered to their 
names. On the 27th Charles was brought up to hear his 
sentence, sixty -seven Commissioners being present. A 
death-warrant had been drawn up some days earlier, but 
the signatures of less than half the sitting Commissioners 
had been obtained to it and some delay had been occa- 
sioned. On Bradshaw's stating that a sentence had been 
agreed upon, but that before it was read the Court was 
willing to hear what Charles wished to say, provided he 
did not question its jurisdiction, the King replied that he 
had acted on behalf of the liberties of his subjects and not 
in his own interests, and ended by asking to be heard before 
the Lords and Commons in the Painted Chamber: he ap- 
pealed in fact from the specially constituted Court to a 
political assembly. 1 

It was stated afterwards that John Downes, member for 
Arundel, excited Cromwell's anger by an intention to rise 
and to plead publicly that the King's request should be 
granted. 2 It was a critical moment, as there is little doubt 

1 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. Ixx. a State Trials, vol. i, 210-3. 



220 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

that a number of even the sitting Commissioners were 
anxious to clutch at any straw which would save them 
from passing condemnation. But the Court adjourned for 
half an hour to consider the King's request, and Cromwell's 
determination prevailed. Downes alleged at his trial in 
I66O 1 that he had been frightened into assenting to the 
judgement; and his case was no doubt the case of several 
others. The Court returned, and the formal sentence was 
read. 

To obtain sufficient signatures to the death-warrant to 
give an appearance of unanimity among the acting Com- 
missioners, the utmost pressure, including even, it is said, 
physical violence, was used. In one way or another fifty- 
nine signatures were procured. Among these figure the 
names of seven Sussex Commissioners: 

WlLLI. GOFFE. 

PER. PELHAM. 
JAMES TEMPLE. 
WILLI. CAWLEY. 
ANTH. STAPLEY. 
GREG. NORTON. 
Jo. DOWNES. 

On Tuesday 3oth January the King was executed at 
Whitehall. He was accompanied to the scaffold by Bishop 
Juxon, a native of Sussex, who had been allowed to visit 
and to pray with him while he was lying under sentence 
of death. The press of soldiers, horse and foot, drawn up 
around the scaffold, made it impossible for his voice to 
reach the crowd of citizens beyond, and he therefore de- 
livered his last speech to Juxon and Colonel Tomlinson, a 
Parliamentary officer of humanity and discretion. He ex- 
pressed clearly and without reservation the absolutist theory 
for which he had fought and was dying. " For the people," 

1 State Trials, vol. i, 212. 




BISHOP JUXON". 



THE REVOLUTION 221 

he said, " truly I desire their liberty and freedom as much 
as anybody whatsoever; but I must tell you that their 
liberty and freedom consists in having government, those 
laws by which their lives and their goods may be most 
their own. It is not their having a share in the govern- 
ment; that is nothing appertaining unto them. A subject 
and a sovereign are clean different things; and therefore, 
until you do that I mean that you put the people in that 
liberty they will never enjoy themselves." 

Nothing could be more explicit or illuminating than 
this last dying declaration ; it is worth volumes of dis- 
quisitions on the causes of the war. 

Charles, having stated at Juxon's instance that he died 
" a Christian according to the Church of England," then 
divested himself of his cloak, and handing his George to 
the bishop, uttered the single " Remember." Of its import 
many theories have been held : it probably referred to the 
deliverance of certain messages to his family with which 
he had already charged him. The King then bowed his 
head to the block. 

Juxon was permitted to bury his master's body in St. 
George's Chapel at Windsor, and the funeral took place 
on 8th February. He had prepared himself to read the 
burial service from the Book of Common Prayer, but the 
governor of the Castle, with wanton tyranny, forbade the 
use of any form but that of the Directory, a service book 
after the most approved pattern of Puritanism, prepared 
by the Westminster Assembly of divines. 

As has already been noted, Dr. Juxon was a native of 
Sussex. He was born at Chichester in the year 1582.' 
His father, Richard, son of John Juxon, a citizen of Lon- 
don, was Receiver-General for the Bishop of Chichester's 
estates. Richard Juxon's brother Thomas is said to have 
" suffered for his religion at Chichester." In Foxe's Book 

1 " 1582. Oct. 24, William, son of Richard Juxon, baptized" (P. R. 
St. Peter the Great, Chichester). 



222 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

of Martyrs, where the name is given as Iveson, it is stated 
that he was apprehended and examined by Bishop Bonner 
at the same time as Derrick Carver, and burnt at Chichester 
in I555- 1 Educated at Merchant Taylors' School and 
St. John's College, Oxford, William Juxon became a student 
of Gray's Inn, but shortly exchanged law for divinity, and 
took orders. He was appointed vicar of St. Giles, in Ox- 
ford, and afterwards rector of Somerton. On Laud's eleva- 
tion to the episcopate in 1621, Juxon was chosen at Laud's 
instance to succeed him as President of St. John's College. 
His rise thereafter was rapid. He became successively 
Chaplain to the King, Prebendary of Chichester, Dean of 
Worcester, Clerk of the Closet, and in 1633 Bishop of Lon- 
don, Laud having been advanced to Canterbury. He was 
not only an eminent churchman, noted for his plain and 
practical preaching, his fine presence, his moderation and 
power of avoiding offence, but a first-rate man of business. 
In 1636 the King took the unusual course of appointing 
him Lord High Treasurer, an office which had not been 
held by an ecclesiastic since the reign of Henry VII. Laud 
was greatly elated at this appointment. " Now," he wrote, 
" if the Church will not hold up themselves under God I 
can do no more." 2 He did not reflect that the umbrage 
given to the leading laymen of the country by this prefer- 
ment of a divine might do the Church more harm than 
good. Juxon proved an excellent financier. Fuller says: 
" It was a troublesome place in those times, it being ex- 
pected that he should make much brick, with very little 
straw allowed unto him. Large then the expenses, low the 
revenues of the Exchequer. Yet those coffers which he 
found empty he left filling; and had left full, had peace 
been preserved in the land, and he continued in his place. 
Such was the mildness of his temper that petitioners for 
money (when it was not to be had) departed well-pleased 

1 See Lower's Worthies, p. 80. 

2 Laud, Diary, 6th March 1635. 



THE REVOLUTION 223 

with his denials, they were so civilly languaged. It must 
justly seem a wonder that whereas few spake well of 
bishops at that time (and lord-treasurers at all times are 
liable to the complaints of a discontented people), though 
both offices met in this man, yet with Demetrius, ' he was 
well reported of all men, and of the truth itself.' " l Juxon 
was so highly respected by his religious opponents that he 
was not deprived of his temporalities until 1649, having 
lived tranquilly at Fulham throughout the war. He then 
retired to his manor of Little Compton in Gloucester- 
shire, where he is said to have kept a pack of hounds. 
The fashion of clerical amusements changes as do other 
fashions. Even a retired bishop may not be a master of 
hounds to-day, though he may with perfect decorum play 
bowls, a game forbidden even to the laity in the reign of 
Elizabeth. 2 Perhaps he also passed some time at Albourne 
Place, in Sussex, which belonged to his family. There is a 
tradition that he lay concealed on the roof on one occasion 
when the house was searched by a party of Parliamentary 
soldiers. 

Against his brother, John Juxon of Albourne, an infor- 
mation was laid in 1647 by one William Bedwell, that he 
had not paid his tax of one-twentieth to the Committee for 
Advance of Money, or had been assessed at too low a 
figure. " I know that my adversary Juxon is a neuter at 
best; he has had 430 a year of my estate since 1640, and 
now has the whole .620. He has ;ioo a year beside the 
estate of his late brother Thomas, leased lands worth 
250, and has a great manor in Sussex worth 700 to 
800; also an estate at Fulham, Middlesex, and most of 
the bishop's plate and goods, for all things are in common 

1 Worthies, iii, 250. 

2 " In 1567 a Lewes draper and five Brighton men were summoned 
for playing this popular game, while the constable of Brighton was 
called to account for not making search for bowling alleys and similar 
places of unlawful games" (Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 197). 



224 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

between them." John Juxon, however, satisfied the Com- 
mittee with regard to his assessment and his payment of it. 1 

At the Restoration Juxon was made Archbishop of 
Canterbury. He died in 1663, aged eighty-one, and was 
buried in the chapel of St. John's College, Oxford, by the 
side of his friend and predecessor, Laud. 

Colonel John Downes, the regicide member for Arundel, 
acquired considerable notoriety at the time, not only by 
his action at the King's trial, but also for a dispute with 
John Fry, member for Shaftesbury, one of the King's 
judges who did not sign the death-warrant. There had 
been an altercation in " the Committee Chamber above the 
Parliament house," in the course of which Downes accused 
Fry of blasphemy and error. There was some colour for 
the accusation ; it is stated that Fry was by turns " presby- 
terian, independent, Arian; courted and despised by all 
parties ; his works were doomed by the Parliament to be 
burnt by the common executioner, as erroneous, profane, 
and highly scandalous." 2 Fry wrote a pamphlet entitled: 
" The Accuser sham'd or a pair of Bellows to Blow off that 
Dust Cast upon John Fry a Member of Parliament by 
Col. John Downes likewise a Member of Parliament." 3 
In this he spoke of " those which have raised handsome 
estates out of nothing, and vast estates out of mean estates, 
since our general calamity upon the ruin of many, as well 
friend as foe." Downes appears to have been particularly 
open to this charge. Not only had he purchased the 
Bishop's palace at Chichester, but he had been especially 
busy in getting hold of sequestered estates of Royalists in 
Sussex. 4 

1 Cal. Com. for Advance of Money, p. 838. 

2 Noble's Regicides, i, 247. 

3 B.M., Thomason tracts, pressmark E. 624 (2). 

4 For the proceedings which were taken in consequence of the 
alleged bribery and other illegal practices at Downes' election for 
Arundel in 1640, see Horsfield, History of Sussex, vol. ii, Appendix, 
p. 29. 



THE REVOLUTION 225 

The King's death brought about a change in the con- 
stitutional position. Hitherto the ancient constitution had 
remained intact, although its normal operations had been 
suspended. The Commons now proceeded to consummate 
a revolution. They began by excluding all members who 
had voted that the King's latest proposals had offered a 
ground of settlement. They next abolished the House of 
Lords, and finally the kingly office, as unnecessary, burden- 
some and dangerous to the liberty, safety, and public 
interest of the people. As an executive power they created 
a Council of State to be chosen by themselves, and to con- 
sist of forty-one members, to hold office for a year. Of 
the Sussex representatives, Morley, Stapley, Cawley, and 
Downes were members of this Council at different times. 

The Puritan revolution was an attempt to reconcile two 
opposing principles ; the first, that government should be 
by and in accordance with the will of the people ; the 
second, that it is the right and duty of godly men to 
govern the ungodly. The godly men having organized an 
irresistible army and seized the reins of power, and being 
thoroughly convinced of their godliness, paid a lip service 
to the principles of popular government, and proceeded 
with all arbitrariness upon their godly way. From control 
by an Army Council the Government gradually passed 
into a despotism of one man. The rule of a benevolent 
despot has much to recommend it: unhappily the despot- 
ism is apt to swallow the benevolence. Cromwell, a man 
by nature of wide tolerance he has even been blamed for 
his incorrigible clemency was driven by the trend of 
affairs to the most despotic proceedings. Strong man as he 
was, political necessity was too strong for him. " No man 
goes so high," he once said, " as he who knows not whither 
he is going." It may be that with all his grip on business, 
civil and military, he was not endowed with any great 
power of foresight; his course at times seems almost a 
career of drift, broken by ineffectual struggles against the 

Q 



226 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

overpowering stream. By the strange irony of events the 
absolutism to which Charles had vainly aspired was forced 
on Cromwell ; " if nothing," he came to say, " should be 
done but what is according to law, the throat of the nation 
may be cut while we send for some to make a law." Its 
failure in such competent hands taught England that 
absolutism is near akin to anarchy, and insured her political 
development on other lines. 

After the execution of the King, the need of preventing 
anarchy, and, as it was held, of preserving all that had 
been fought for, forbade the establishment of a democratic 
government. The survivors of the Long Parliament, now 
mere creatures of the army, took such measures as were 
possible to secure the status quo. In January 1650 an Act 
was passed that every person holding any office whatever 
should sign a solemn Engagement to be true and faithful 
to the government as then established, without a King or 
a House of Lords. Almost all the originals of these Engage- 
ments have disappeared, but it happens that the Engage- 
ment signed by 168 persons, including the Mayor and the 
Town Clerk, of the town of Rye has been preserved, and is 
of great local interest. 1 In January 1654, Cromwell issued 
an ordinance which, after reciting that promissory oaths 
and engagements were burthens and snares to tender con- 
sciences, repealed the Act for subscribing the Engagement, 
and declared that no such Engagement should be required 
of any person, nor should any one who had not already 
taken such Engagement be in any way prejudiced by his 
default. 

Among those who refused to take the Engagement in 
1650 was Lord Dacre. He was accordingly relieved of his 
office of Vice- Admiral for the county of Sussex, and Colonel 
Anthony Stapley was appointed in his place on i/th June. 
There was some delay over the carrying out of this busi- 

1 See The Rye Engagement by F. A. Inderwick, Q.C., in S. A. C., 
xxxix. 



THE REVOLUTION 227 

ness, for in the February Mr. Wynn, Registrar of the Ad- 
miralty was ordered to give in writing his reasons for not 
having prepared patents for making Colonel Stapley Vice- 
Admiral for Sussex. 1 

Stapley was reaping the reward of his consistent support 
of Cromwell. He was now a member of the Council of 
State, with lodgings in Whitehall supplied with " hangings 
and other accommodation " at the public expense. 2 In 1653 
he was appointed a Commissioner of Somers Islands the 
Bermudas with a salary of 1,000 a year; 3 an office 
which does not appear to have interfered with his other 
activities. 

Colonel Morley was a much less thick-and-thin supporter 
of Cromwell's policy. He had resisted all pressure to sign 
the King's death-warrant. The leading man in Sussex on 
the Parliamentary side throughout the war, he still enjoyed 
the greatest influence and popularity in the county; but in 
Parliament he was becoming " almost a malcontent." With 
Mr. Bond he acted as teller for the opposition to the bill 
brought in during November 1651, to provide that the 
House should be dissolved on 3rd November 1654, and 
counted forty-seven votes. Cromwell and St. John told for 
the supporters of the bill, who numbered forty-nine. Mor- 
ley was a member of the Council of State during 1652 and 
1653, but after the forcible expulsion of the House of Com- 
mons by Cromwell in 1653 he seems to have taken little 
part in public affairs until Cromwell's death. 

The Royalists, though crushed for the time, were not 
idle. In 1650 there was a widespread organization through- 
out a great part of England " concerning an association in 
the King's business." One Thomas Coke travelled into 
several counties in connection with this plot, which aimed 
at a concerted rising in various places. In 1651 he was 
examined before the Council of State, and confessed his 

1 Council of State Proceedings, 5th February, 1651. 

2 Ibid., 2ist May 1651. 3 Thurloe, iii, 581. 



228 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

proceedings at great length, revealing the names of all con- 
cerned. It did not appear that much had been arranged in 
Sussex, but Coke believed that among those engaged with 
Lord Gerard, in his " design for Kent, Surrey and Sussex," 
was Mr. Henry Howard, the Earl of ArundeFs son ; and 
stated that in Sussex Mr. Middleton was looked on as 
a person who would engage, as also Mr. Lewknor, Sir 
Edward Ford and Mr. Gunter. Coke visited Ford, who 
added the names of Lord Lumley and Colonel Norton, 
formerly Governor of Portsmouth; and advised Coke to 
consult Mr. Ashburnham, which he had not done. 1 Prob- 
ably all this was, at least as far as Sussex was concerned, 
little more than brave talk. 

One of Cromwell's first acts was to abolish the grievance 
of free-quarter, which had weighed so heavily on the county 
during the war. 2 With the inception of the New Model 
attempts had been made to remove this grievance. On 
22nd May 1646, Fairfax issued an Order: " Forasmuch as 
the Army under my command have for some time past for 
want of pay practised free quarter, to the great scandal 
thereof, and to the extreme burden of the country, especi- 
ally those parts which as yet do pay very great contribu- 
tions to many garrisons, well nigh to the utter undoing of 
the inhabitants. In consideration whereof, and confidence 
of due pay for the future, I do hereby strictly charge and 
order all officers and soldiers whatsoever, horse and foot, 
duly to discharge their quarters, according to the several 
rates expressed in an Ordinance of Parliament; ^d. a 
night hay, 2d. a night grass, ^d. a peck oats, 6d. a peck 

1 Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com.), i, 578, 582. 

2 In July 1652 Mr. Frost was ordered "to pay ^25 to Anne Dennie 
out of the exigent money of the Council of State for quartering soldiers 
at Goring House for three months." Anne, daughter of Henry Denny, 
was the mother of George Goring, Earl of Norwich, and must have 
been at this date of very advanced age, as the Earl himself died 
in 1663, aged about eighty (see Cal. S. P. Dom., Interregnum, 
xxiv, 61). 



THE REVOLUTION 229 

pease and beans, and also %d. a day for the diet of every 
trooper or horseman, yd. a day for every dragooner, and 
6d, a day for every foot soldier, pioneer, waggoner or carter 
that shall not be officers by Commission. Every Officer by 
Commission, or person of the Life-guard troop, shall pay 
the full value for his provisions, both for horse and man." 
If for want of pay it was impossible for them to pay at the 
time, they were to "give ticket" for such provisions as 
they required. 1 But this was a counsel of perfection, and 
had failed to remove the grievance. We have seen that the 
Corporation of Rye, in 1648, spoke of " the kingdom groan- 
ing under the burden of free-quarter." 2 Even after its 
abolition by Cromwell, it sometimes remained in fact. 

The garrison of Rye, in particular, continued to be a 
severe incubus, and we find the corporation petition- 
ing for its withdrawal, and also for the repayment of sums 
of money advanced to officers. 3 Later on, under the Pro- 
tectorate, this grievance became very acute. It was com- 
plained that the strict enforcement of garrison rules, as to 
the disarming of strangers entering the town, had caused an 
" utter cessation of gentlemen's access " to it, whereby the 
trade of the town was abundantly decayed. 4 Another 
vexation was the number of disbanded soldiers, and other 
undesirable strangers, who were perhaps attracted to the 
seaport towns by the general adventurousness of life in 
such places. The established tradesmen complained of the 
competition of these strangers in setting up and exercising 
public trades and callings, and the authorities feared that if 
suffered to remain until they became by law inhabitants, 
they might in process of time become a parish charge. 5 
These troubles, together with the increase of alehouses and 
brewers, are mentioned as among " the visible causes 

1 Perfect Occurrences, 22nd to 2Qth May 1646. 

* Ante, p. 215. 

3 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 233. 4 Ibid., p. 230. 

5 Ibid., p. 217. 



230 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

threatening the destruction and ruin of this town if not 
prevented." 

The case of the disbanded soldiers was a hard one 
"who desiring to exercise manual occupations and other 
means to get themselves a livelihood are denied the same 
within several corporations.'" In September 1654 Crom- 
well issued an ordinance dealing with the hindrances, 
such as by-laws and customs, imposed on them by such 
corporations as that of Rye. He ordered that any soldier, 
who had served in the army of the Parliament for not less 
than four years, between 1642 and 1651, should be free to 
practise his trade or occupation in any place in spite of any 
legal restrictions. 2 

With the establishment of the Common wealth the practice 
of Puritan principles became more precise. Chief among 
these was the strict observance of Sunday. The proclama- 
tion of James I, renewed by Charles I, known as the " Book 
of Sports," provided for a Sunday which most people in 
our day would consider reasonable enough. After referring 
to " the complaints of our people that they were barred 
from all lawful recreation and exercise on the Sunday 
afternoon, after the ending of all divine service," it pro- 
ceeded to ask, " When shall the common people have leave 
to exercise if not upon the Sundays and holy days, seeing 
they must apply their labour and win their living in all 
working days? Our pleasure therefore is that no lawful re- 
creation shall be barred to our good people which shall not 
tend to the breach of our laws and canons of our Church, 
and our pleasure is that after the end of Divine Service our 
good people be not disturbed, letted or discouraged from 
any lawful recreation, such as dancing, either men or 
women, archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any other 
harmless recreation; or from having of May-games, Whit- 
sun-ales, and Morris-dances, and other sports therewith 

1 Army Petition, I2th August 1652. 

2 Scobell, Acts and Ordinances, ii, 357, 389. 



THE REVOLUTION 231 

used, so as the same be had in due and convenient time, 
without impediment or neglect of Divine service, and that 
women shall have leave to carry rushes to church for de- 
corating it according to their old custom." This proclama- 
tion, to which was added a proviso that no one should 
engage in such amusements who had not previously 
attended Divine service, was ordered to be read in parish 
churches. To the Puritans such a practice as it enjoined 
was anathema, and with the establishment of the Common- 
wealth official prohibition was given to it; though doubt- 
less it had actually ceased throughout the war. Every sort 
of amusement was forbidden on Sunday, and the most 
trivial infringements of this order were the subject of 
presentment by grand juries. In 1654 the Grand Inquest 
of Rye presented three boys for sliding on the ice on 
the Sabbath day. 1 Even the professional tramp, " rogue, 
vagabond or beggar" had to cease his tramping, and be 
bundled off to church by the parish constable, there to 
remain " soberly and orderly during the time of Divine 
worship." 

Doubtless the unfortunate tendency of the English to 
flavour recreation with an excess of ale gave some colour 
of reason to Puritan severity. There is plenty of evidence 
of the increase of alehouses and brewers already men- 
tioned; war is thirsty work. In 1652 the constables of the 
town of Rye were required carefully and diligently to make 
search and inquisition in all taverns, inns, alehouses, tobacco 
houses or shops, or victualling houses for the discovery and 
apprehension of those who shall upon the Lord's day pro- 
fanely dance, sing, drink, or tipple contrary to the Act of 
Parliament. 8 

The penalties for using bad language seem to have been 
very severe. On I4th March 1656, the constables of Rye 
were ordered to levy a distress of i 6s. 8d. on Alice, the 

1 Inderwick, The Interregnum, p. 55. 

* Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 220. 



232 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

wife of Robert Batten, seaman, for profanely swearing 
four oaths, and in default of rinding goods to the value of 
the fine, to set the said Alice in the stocks for twenty-four 
hours. 1 If, as is not improbable, Robert Batten was one of 
the seamen impressed at the time for service in the navy, 2 
his poor wife might have been excused for expressing her 
feelings strongly. 

It was not only on Sunday amusements that the Puritan 
looked askance. The old recreations of the country folk 
bear-baiting, bull-baiting, cock-fighting, dancing, boxing, 
quarter-staff all these were gradually put a stop to. Race- 
meetings were frequently, though not altogether, forbidden, 3 
sometimes on the ground that they served as a cloak for 
the meeting and training of seditious Cavaliers. There was 
certainly some reason for this; for example, in 1658, John 
Stapley, George Hutchinson of Cuckfield, and Captain 
Henry Mallory met "at Hangleton race" and discussed 
the details of the plot in which Stapley was engaged. 4 

Life under the Commonwealth must have been indescrib- 
ably dull. And in running counter to the natural and 
healthy tendencies of the time in the matter of Sunday 
observance, the Puritans did England a very ill service. 
They dissociated the holy-day and the holiday, an error 
into which the Church of Rome, with her penetrating in- 
sight into human nature and its needs, has not fallen. The 
gloom in which the Puritans immersed the Lord's day has 
survived almost to our own time; the reaction, now that it 
has come, is likely to go far. 

With the exception of the Dutch war, which chiefly 
affected the maritime towns, little seems to have occurred 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 227. 

2 See/fty/, p. 278. 

3 Ordinances prohibiting horse-racing were issued in July 1654, 
February 1655, and April 1658. See Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., 
xiii, 4), p. 224; Clarke Papers, iii, 130, 147. 

4 See post, p. 297. 



THE REVOLUTION 233 

during the early years of the Commonwealth to ruffle the 
calm of Sussex. The battle was won; the principles for 
which in the main the county had stood throughout the 
struggle were victorious ; and if there was some disappoint- 
ment that the millennium had not arrived that harvests 
were bad, and taxation higher than ever there was no 
open disaffection. 



CHAPTER XIV 

SOME SUSSEX MEN 

T~) EFERENCE has already been made to the many 
J.X. Sussex men who in one way or another were closely 
connected with Charles I, and shared some of the most 
memorable incidents of his life. But they do not by any 
means complete the list of those who played a leading 
part in the great drama. Alike in Parliament and in the 
field, in divinity and in the law, men of Sussex birth or 
descent achieved careers of eminence and distinction. One 
at least has left an imperishable name. 

John Selden, the greatest Sussex man of the time, 
some will say of all time "the glory of the English 
nation," as he was named by Grotius, his literary an- 
tagonist was born at Salvington, a hamlet of West 
Tarring, as his epitaph in the Temple Church records. 

His father seems to have been of the yeoman class; his 
mother was daughter and heiress of Thomas Baker of 
Rustington, a connection of the gentle family of Baker of 
Sissinghurst, in Kent. He was born in 1584, and at an 
early age was sent to the free school at Chichester, whence, 
being fourteen years old, he proceeded to Hart Hall, 
Oxford. He is said to have owed an exhibition there to 
the patronage of Bishop Juxon. Four years later he 
removed to Clifford's Inn, and subsequently became a 
member of the Inner Temple. He does not appear to have 
practised much at the Bar, but to have devoted himself to 
the study of the literary and historical side of the English 
law and Constitution. In a very few years he attained a great 

234 




JOHN SELDEN. 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 235 

reputation as an author, and became the friend and asso- 
ciate of the most eminent literary men of the time Arch- 
bishop Usher, Sir Robert Cotton, Camden, Ben Jonson, 
Browne, and Drayton. His great work on Titles of 
Honour appeared in 1614, and four years later he first 
came into collision with the authorities through the pub- 
lication of his History of Tythes. He approached the 
subject of tithes in a purely antiquarian spirit, and without 
impugning the divine right by which the Church claims 
them, he cited numerous authorities of weight which tended 
to invalidate it. The clergy were alarmed and the King 
offended, and Selden was compelled to retract his views 
in a formal document. 

This is not the place to relate at length the part he 
played in the stormy Constitutional struggle now about 
to open; a few main points in his career must suffice. In 
1621 he had attained the position of the chief Constitu- 
tional authority in the kingdom. King James having 
imprudently asserted in a speech to Parliament that the 
privileges of both Houses were originally grants from the 
Crown, both Houses consulted Selden on the subject. In 
giving his opinion he defended the fair prerogative, but 
wholly denied James's claims. James retaliated by com- 
mitting Selden to the Tower, and with childish rage tore 
the Commons' declaration of protest from their Journals. 

Selden was soon released, and in 1628 entered Parlia- 
ment. The pretensions of the Crown were now becoming 
more extensive, and Selden took a great share in forming 
public opinion against them. He spoke on all the great 
subjects of the day, and his words were listened to as the 
dictates of an oracle. So formidable did he become, that 
he was arrested on a charge of using seditious language, 
and kept in prison for four years. To the Long Parliament 
he was returned as Member for the University of Oxford, 
and was again foremost among those who opposed the 
Court. In 1642 the King endeavoured to bribe him with 



236 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

an offer of the custody of the Great Seal, but in a letter to 
Falkland declining it, Selden made it clear that he would 
never serve the King separately from the Parliament. 

In the early days of the Civil War he was active in the 
House of Commons, but appears later to have become 
somewhat disgusted at its proceedings. For his fellow 
members of the Westminster Assembly he did not disguise 
his contempt. When they were disputing about a passage 
of Scripture, he observed to them, " Perhaps in your little 
pocket Bibles with gilt leaves the translation may be thus, 
but the Greek or Hebrew signifies thus and thus." 1 

He died in 1654. He left a fortune of 40,000, which he 
had received as residuary legatee of the widow of his friend 
the Earl of Kent. Of this he left each of his nephews and 
nieces a hundred pounds, and the balance to his four 
executors. " I have no one," he was wont to say, " to make 
my heir, except a milkmaid ; and such people do not know 
what to do with a great estate." 2 His library of eight 
thousand volumes went to the Bodleian. 

The unique position which, by his learning and integrity, 
Selden attained is well summed up by an anonymous 
author. 3 " He appears to have been regarded somewhat in 
the light of a valuable piece of national property, like a 
museum, or great public library, resorted to as a matter 
of course, and a matter of right, in all the numerous cases 
in which assistance was wanted from any part of the 
whole compass of legal and historical learning. He appeared 
in the national council not so much as the representative 
of the contemporary inhabitants of a particular city, as of 
all the people of all past ages; concerning whom, and 
whose institutions, he was deemed to know whatever was 
to be known, and to be able to furnish whatever, within 
so vast a retrospect, was of a nature to give light and 

1 Whitelock's Memoirs, p. 68; S. A. C., v, 80. 
' 2 Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 10. 
3 Quoted in Lodge's Portraits, v, 57. 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 237 

authority in the decision of questions arising in a doubtful 
and hazardous state of the national affairs." 

A literary man of a different calibre was Thomas May. 
Sussex has been fortunate in her poets. She can boast 
three or four stars of the first magnitude, and quite a con- 
stellation of minor luminaries. Among these May shines not 
the least. Son of Sir Thomas May of Mayfield, he was 
born in 1595, and after graduating at Cambridge, went to 
London to study law at Gray's Inn. But his father's lavish 
expenditure having left him in straitened circumstances he 
adopted literature as a profession, and had an immediate 
success. He frequented Court, and attracted the notice of 
Charles I and his queen. Encouraged by Ben Jonson, he 
wrote several plays, but his greatest work was his translation 
of Lucan's Pharsalia ; or the Civil Warres of Rome, between 
Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. The whole ten 
bookes, Englished, published in 1627. He also wrote in 
Latin a supplement to Lucan, and was pronounced in later 
times by Dr. Johnson the best Latin poet of England. By 
Charles's command he wrote in verse The Reign of King 
Henry the Second in Seven Books, and also The Victorious 
Reign of Edward the Third. It is said that he was dis- 
appointed in not being appointed Poet Laureate on the 
death of Ben Jonson, when D'Avenant was preferred. From 
this or some other cause his loyalty cooled, and, on the 
outbreak of Civil War, he sided with the Parliament. He 
was appointed Secretary for the Parliament in 1646, and 
the following year, by order of the House, wrote The 
History of the Parliament of England a brief account 
of the civil wars, pronounced by Chatham " honester and 
more instructive than Clarendon's." He died in 1650. He 
was in perfect health though of a full habit, and took a 
" chearful bottle " as usual before retiring one night ; he 
was found dead in his bed in the morning, having tied 
the strings of his nightcap too tightly under his chin, which 
produced suffocation a catastrophe which caused much 



238 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

merriment in Royalist circles, and was the occasion of a 
poem by Andrew Marvell, full of bitter vituperation. 1 He 
was buried in Westminster Abbey, but Royalist spite at 
the Restoration cast down his monument, and removed 
his bones to a pit belonging to St. Margaret's Church. 

Associated with Thomas May in the secretaryship of 
the House of Commons was Henry Parker, fourth son of 
Sir Nicholas Parker of Ratton, Sussex. Educated at St. 
Edmund Hall, Oxford, and called to the Bar in 1637, he 
was at first a Presbyterian, but later inclined to the Inde- 
pendents, and is described by Anthony Wood as " a man 
of dangerous and anti-monarchical principles." In con- 
junction with May and John Sadler, he deciphered and 
transcribed the King's papers taken at Naseby, and pub- 
lished The King's Cabinet Opened. After spending three 
years at Hamburg as secretary to the Company of Mer- 
chant Adventurers, he was appointed in 1649 secretary to 
Cromwell's army in Ireland ("a brewer's clerk," says 
Anthony Wood), and died there in 1652.* 

Sussex seems to have been no less prolific of bishops 

than of poets. Fuller, writing in 1662, remarks: "As to the 

nativities of Archbishops, one may say of this county, 

' many shires have done worthily, but Sussex surmounteth 

them all,' having bred five Arch-bishops of Canterbury, and 

at this instant claiming for her natives the two metropolitans 

of our nation " Juxon and Frewen. Accepted Frewen 3 was 

born in 1588, the eldest son of John Frewen, the Puritan 

rector of Northiam, whose epitaph records that he was 

ECCLESIAE ANGLICANAE 

CONTRA PONTIFICIOS 

VINDEX ACERRIMUS 

UT PLURIMA IPSIUS OPERA 

SAEPIUS TYPIS MANDATA ABUNDE 

TESTANTUR. 

1 Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 153. - D. N. B. 

3 See ante, p. 24. 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 239 

The young Accepted received his early education at 
the free school at Canterbury, whence he proceeded to 
Magdalen College, Oxford, of which foundation he became 
a fellow in 1612. In 1617 he obtained leave of absence for 
a year in order to act as chaplain to Sir John Digby, 
Ambassador to Spain ; l whom he also accompanied on a 
mission to Germany. In 1622 he was again in Spain with 
Digby, now Earl of Bristol, on the occasion of Prince 
Charles's visit to court the Infanta. Seeing the attempts 
made to convert the English prince to Romanism he 
preached before him, on the text : " How long halt ye 
between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; 
but if Baal, then follow him." 2 The sermon was a powerful 
plea in favour of the Church of England, and made a great 
impression on Charles, who on his accession added Frewen's 
name to his list of chaplains with his own hand. He became 
successively Canon of Canterbury, President of Magdalen 
and Dean of Gloucester, and Dean of Wells ; and held also 
two livings in the gift of his College. In 1642 he was 
mainly instrumental in inducing the Oxford Colleges to 
send their plate to the King at York ; and he provided out 
of his own purse 500, which was given as a contribution 
on the part of Magdalen to the Royal cause. The Parlia- 
ment then ordered his arrest, whereupon he withdrew, and 
only returned to Oxford with the King after the battle of 
Edgehill. In 1643 ne was preferred to the See of Lichfield, 
and the following year was consecrated by Archbishop 
Williams in Magdalen College Chapel. In 1652 his estate 
was declared to be forfeited for treason against the Parlia- 
ment, but escaped owing to his being erroneously desig- 
nated " Stephen Frewen, D.D., late of the University of 
Oxford." Stephen Frewen, Accepted's half-brother, was a 
furrier, a member of the Skinners' Company, and an Alder- 
man of London, and seems to have kept in with both 

1 Registers of Magdalen College. 
* Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 50. 



2 4 o SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

sides. 1 Another brother, Benjamin, was a haberdasher. 2 A 
similar mistake as to his Christian name had enabled Ac- 
cepted Frewen to escape a greater peril when Cromwell 
had offered a thousand pounds to any one who would bring 
him dead or alive. 3 The Bishop withdrew to France until 
the fury of the times abated, when he returned to England 
and lived in retirement. At the Restoration he was nomin- 
ated Archbishop of York. Dr. King, Bishop of Chichester, 
had been designed for this preferment, but he " withdrew 
himself into the country, and through his negligence and 
carelessness in not following it up as he ought to have done, 
Dr. Frewen, the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, got it 
from him, and by this means he continues here, to his loss 
and my prejudice," 4 as another clergyman complained. 

Frewen died in 1664, and was buried in his own cathedral. 
He is described as a mild and peaceable man, of some 
eccentricity; he had an aversion to women, and would 
never allow a woman-servant in his establishment at any 
period of his life. A happy turn for holding pluralities 
enabled him to leave a large fortune. 

While Archbishop Frewen was inducing the colleges of 
Oxford to melt their plate for the King's service, another 
Sussex ecclesiastic was endeavouring to persuade the 
Cambridge authorities to do their colleges the same ill 
service. Thomas Comber came of a family which claimed 
to possess the manor of Barkham in Fletching by gift from 
William the Conqueror, for the slaying of a Saxon lord at 
the battle of Hastings. 5 He is said to have been born at 
Shermanbury in 1575, the twelfth child of Richard Comber, 
Clarencieux King-at-Arms, and to have had his school- 

1 See A History of Brickwall, etc., by A. L. Frewen, 1909. 

2 S. A. C., iv, 24. 

3 Mr. Lower gives no authority for this rather remarkable story, 
which is copied in the D. N. B. 

1 Letter of Dr. Edward Burton, rector of Broadwater, who through 
this mischance lost the bishopric of Chichester. S. A. C., xi, 33. 
6 Lower, Worthies of Sussex, p. 307. 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 241 

ing at Collyer's School, Horsham. 1 In 1593 he proceeded 
to Trinity, Cambridge, and four years later became a fellow 
and later Master of the College. On the outbreak of civil 
war, he espoused the King's cause, and incurred the enmity 
of the Parliament for urging the heads of the other colleges 
to the course above-mentioned. For this, and refusing to 
take the Covenant, he was deprived of all his preferments 
and imprisoned. He died in 1653. 

Two divines of Sussex origin rose to eminence on the 
Puritan side. Philip Nye, the great Independent preacher, 
was the eldest son of Henry Nye, rector of Clapham in 
Sussex, and was born about 1596. John Pell, mathematician 
and diplomatist, was born at Southwick, near Brighton, in 
1611, and educated at Steyning Grammar School. He was 
Cromwell's political agent to the Cantons of Switzerland 
from 1654 to 1658. 

Samuel Gott, member for various Sussex constituencies 
throughout this period, was a man of varied activities and 
considerable local influence a politician, an author, a man 
of business, and a country Justice of the Peace. Born in 
1613, the son of an ironmonger of London, he was educated 
at Cambridge and called to the Bar at Gray's Inn. Shortly 
after his father's death in 1641 he married a daughter of 
Peter Farnden, ironmaster, of Sedlescombe, and went to 
reside at Battle. In 1645 Gott and Henry Oxenden became 
members for Winchelsea in the Long Parliament vice Sir 
J. Finch deceased and William Smyth disabled. 2 To the 
Parliament of 1656 he was elected for the county of Sus- 
sex, and to Richard Cromwell's Parliament of 1659 for 
Hastings. In this House he spoke in faint praise of Crom- 
well's new lords. 3 The Latin Romance, Nova Solyma, 
previously attributed with some plausibility to John Milton, 

1 Hay, History of Chichester, p. 510. 

2 Return of Members of Parliament: ordered to be printed, 

1879- 

3 Burton's Diary, London, 1828, iv, 57. 

R 



242 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

has recently been shown to be his work. 1 He published 
two or three other books, of a devotional character. He 
died in 1671, and was buried at Battle. 

Among the soldiers of fortune who hurried back to 
England from the continent when the King raised his 
standard was Henry Gage, a scion of the ancient Sussex 
family of Firle, which had consistently maintained its adher- 
ence to the Catholic religion. His great-grandfather was 
the celebrated Sir John Gage, who was Constable of the 
Tower under Henry VIII, and again under Mary, when he 
had charge of the Princess Elizabeth. There was no more 
honourable and gallant figure than that of Henry Gage on 
the Royalist side, and his untimely death called forth a 
chorus of lamentation. He is thus described by Clarendon : 
" In truth a very extraordinary man, of a large and very 
graceful person, of an honourable extraction, his grand- 
father having been a Knight of the Garter; besides his 
great experience and abilities as a soldier, which were very 
eminent, he had very great parts of breeding, being a very 
good scholar in the polite parts of learning, a great master 
in the Spanish and Italian tongues, besides the French and 
Dutch, which he spoke in great perfection ; having scarce 
been in England in twenty years before. He was likewise 
very conversant in Courts; having for many years been 
much esteemed in that of the Arch-Duke and Duchess 
Albert and Isabella, at Brussels ; which was a very great 
and regular Court at that time ; so that he deserved to be 
looked upon as a very wise and accomplished person. Of 
this gentleman the Lords of the Council had a singular 
esteem, and consulted frequently with him, whilst they 
looked to be besieged; and thought Oxford to be the more 
secure for his being in it, which rendered him so ungrateful 
to the governor, Sir Arthur [Aston], that he crossed him in 
anything he proposed and hated him perfectly, as they 

1 The Library, Third Series, No. 3, Vol. i, July 1910. 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 243 

were of natures and manners as different as men could 
be." 

Gage's chief performances in the war were in connection 
with Basing House, which he twice relieved, and the capture 
of Borstall House, when he placed Sir William Campion in 
command of the garrison. 1 He was knighted by the King 
at Oxford in November 1644, and shortly after appointed 
Governor of Oxford, in place of the unpopular Sir Arthur 
Aston. But he was not destined to enjoy this honour long. 
The town of Abingdon, distant only some six miles, and 
strongly garrisoned by the Parliament, had long been a 
thorn in the side of Oxford, and with the approval of 
Prince Rupert, Sir Henry Gage proposed to construct a 
fort at Culham Bridge to keep the Abingdon forces in 
check. On nth January 1645, he marched out of Oxford 
at the head of a party of horse and foot. Major-General 
Browne, the Parliamentary commander at Abingdon, was 
on the alert and a sharp skirmish ensued. Sir Henry Gage 
was wounded by a musket ball, and died a few hours after- 
wards. 2 " His body was afterwards interred at Oxford with 
funebrious exequies and solemnities answerable to his 
merits, who, having done His Majesty special service, was 
whilst living, generally beloved, and dead is still universally 
lamented." 

Henry Gage's brother Thomas affords an example of 
those extraordinarily varied careers in which the time 
abounded. Having become a Spanish Dominican in early 
youth, he lived some time among the Indians of Central 
America; he crossed Nicaragua, reached Panama and tra- 
versing the Isthmus sailed from Portobello, reaching 
Europe in 1637. After a visit to Loreto he renounced 
Catholicism and came to England in 1641. He preached 
his recantation sermon in St. Paul's, and joined the Parlia- 
mentary party. He was appointed vicar of Acrise in 1642, 

1 See p. 192. 2 See Godwin, Civil War in Hampshire, ch. xxvi. 



244 

and subsequently vicar of Deal. In 1648 he published his 
great book, The English- American his Travail by Sea and 
Land. But he seems to have tired of the quiet life of an 
English vicar, for when Admiral Sir William Penn was 
appointed, in 1654, General and Commander-in-Chief to act 
against the Spanish West Indies, in conjunction with General 
Robert Venables, Gage joined the expedition as Venables' 
chaplain. After a repulse at San Domingo, Jamaica was 
captured. Gage died in that island in 1656. Venables re- 
turned to England to find himself in disgrace, the import- 
ance and wealth of Jamaica being imperfectly known: 
" Under Cromwell," says Captain Mahan, " the conquest of 
Jamaica began that extension of England's empire by 
force of arms which has gone on ever since." 1 He was 
lodged in the Tower and cashiered. Perhaps he was 
meant by nature for quieter times; he is chiefly remem- 
bered as the author of a treatise on the gentle art of 
angling, published in 1662, nine years after Izaak 
Walton's. 

In a former chapter mention has been made of the early 
life of Sir Thomas Lunsford, and of the storm occa- 
sioned by his appointment to the Lieutenancy of the Tower. 2 
Some further particulars of this extraordinary character 
may be noted here. Of him and his twin brother, Herbert, 
a contemporary wrote that they were " both the biggest 
men, though twins, you could likely see to, whereof Sir 
Thomas was feigned by the Brethren, a devourer of 
children." 3 The popular belief that he was a cannibal, and 
the use of his name as a bugbear, are alluded to by Butler 
in Hudibras, speaking of preachers, who 

Make children with their tones to run fort 
As bad as Bloody-bones or Lunsford. 



1 Influence of Sea Power on History, p. 60. 

2 Ante, p. 19. 

3 D. Lloyd's Loyalists, p. 581 ; S. A. C., v, 81. 




Ovpostrs of tnc Prelacy. 

tttventer therefore life to ha.ve redrcsf 

JWjicking.iteaKtuj.wby cuttitw th routes. 

dltntugh my jrrachce crosst tfafiMdcmsvotts. 



SIR THOMAS LUNSFORU, 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 245 

At the battle of Edgehill he was falsely reported killed, and 
a popular ballad of the day reported 

The Post that came from Banbury 
Riding in his blue rocket, 
He swore he saw when Lunsford fell 
A child's arm in his pocket. 

Sir Thomas was not killed at Edgehill, but made prisoner. 
He was exchanged in 1644, joined the King at Oxford, and 
distinguished himself at Bristol and at Monmouth. He 
seems to have retired to Virginia in 1649, and to have died 
there a few years later. 1 His twin brother, Herbert, rose to 
the command of a regiment, and was knighted in July 
1644. 

To relate fully the history of the Gorings of Danny, 
father and son, would almost be to tell again the history of 
the Civil War. It may be briefly sketched here. 

George Goring of Ovingdean, a son of Sir William 
Goring of Burton, knight, married Anne, daughter of 
Henry Denny, Esq., of Waltham in Essex, and sister of 
Edward Denny, Earl of Norwich. He acquired the manor 
of Hurstpierpoint, and built the noble mansion of Danny. 
His son George, born about 1583, is said to have begun his 
life at Court as one of the gentlemen pensioners of Queen 
Elizabeth. He certainly became one of the most favoured 
courtiers of James and Charles. In 1628 he was raised to 
the peerage as Baron Goring. Offices were heaped upon 
him; and he was concerned in some of the King's most un- 
wise and oppressive schemes for raising money. He was 
chief among the persons to whom, in 1636, the tobacco 
monopoly was granted; and his income in 1641-2 was 
estimated at ^26,800 a year. 2 The Long Parliament put an 
end to his prosperity, and his fortune was expended in the 
King's service during the war. 

His eldest son George, by his wife Mary, second daughter 

1 D. N. B. 2 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. II, Ixvii, 19. 



246 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

of Edward Nevill, sixth Lord Abergavenny, was born in 
1608. His surrender of Portsmouth, of which he was in 
command at the outbreak of war, has already been re- 
corded. Goring went to Holland, and having recruited 
there a number of officers and veteran soldiers for the 
King's service, landed at Newcastle three months later, in 
December 1642. The Earl of Newcastle made him master 
of his horse. In the following May he was taken prisoner 
by Fairfax at the storming of Wakefield, and imprisoned in 
the Tower until April 1644, when he was exchanged for 
the Earl of Lowthian. Meantime his father had been sent 
to France as ambassador to negotiate for a French alliance, 
and had received from Mazarin promises of arms and 
money. He had also pawned the Queen's jewels for large 
sums, and B with the proceeds was sending a considerable 
store of arms to England. 1 A letter of his to the Queen fell 
into the hands of the Parliament, and he was promptly im- 
peached for high treason. The King rewarded his zeal by 
creating him Earl of Norwich on 28th November 1644; 
the earldom having become extinct by the recent death of 
his uncle, Edward Denny. 

George Goring the younger, now by courtesy Lord Gor- 
ing, had been appointed in the previous August Lieutenant- 
General of the horse in the King's main army, in place 
of Wilmot, with whom he had been at enmity since his re- 
velation of the "army plot" to the Parliament in 1641. 
Clarendon, who hates both, seizes the opportunity to make 
a masterly characterization by way of contrast. " Goring, 
who was now general of the horse, was no more gracious to 
Prince Rupert than Wilmot had been; and had all the 
other's faults, and wanted his regularity and preserving his 
respect with his offices. Wilmot loved debauchery, but 
shut it out from his business; and never neglected that, 
and rarely miscarried in it. Goring had much a better 
understanding and a sharper wit (except in the very exer- 

1 Gardiner, Civil War, ch. xiii. 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 247 

cise of debauchery, and then the other was inspired), a 
much keener courage, and presentness of mind in danger : 
Wilmot discerned it farther off, and because he could not 
behave himself so well in it, commonly prevented or warily 
declined it, and never drank when he was within distance 
of an enemy: Goring was not able to resist the temptation 
when he was in the middle of them, nor would decline it to 
obtain a victory, and in one of those fits he suffered the 
horse to escape out of Cornwall ; and the most signal mis- 
fortunes of his life in war had their rise from that uncon- 
trolable license. Neither of them valued their promises, 
professions or friendships, according to any rules of honour 
or integrity ; but Wilmot violated them the less willingly, 
and never but for some great benefit or convenience to him- 
self: Goring without scruple, out of humour, or for wit 
sake, and loved no man so well but that he would cozen 
him, and then expose him to the public mirth for having 
been cozened ; and therefore he had always fewer friends 
than the other, but more company, for no man had a wit 
that pleased the company better. The ambitions of both 
were unlimited, and so equally incapable of being con- 
tented; and both unrestrained by any respect to good- 
nature or justice from pursuing the satisfaction thereof: yet 
Wilmot had more scruples from religion to startle him, and 
would not have attained his end by any gross or foul act of 
wickedness: Goring could have passed through these 
pleasantly, and would without hesitation have broken any 
trust, or done any act of treachery, to have satisfied an or- 
dinary passion or appetite; and, in truth, wanted nothing 
but industry (for he had wit and courage and understand- 
ing and ambition, uncontrolled by any fear of God or man) 
to have been as any man in the age he lived in or before. 
And of all his qualifications dissimulation was his master- 
piece ; in which he so much excelled, that men were not 
ordinarily ashamed, or out of countenance, with being de- 
ceived but twice by him." 



248 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

In December 1644 Goring was appointed Lieutenant- 
General of Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, and Kent; and 
during the following year commanded the Royal army in 
the west. It is unnecessary to follow the course of his pro- 
ceedings, an almost unbroken record of defeat, lost oppor- 
tunities, and debauchery. When the King's army finally sur- 
rendered to Fairfax in March 1646, Goring was in France. 1 

The Earl of Norwich played an important part in the 
second Civil War of 1648. He had come to England at 
the end of 1647 with a pass from Parliament, under pre- 
tence of making his composition. He was appointed to 
the command of the King's forces in Kent. " He found," 
says Clarendon, " the assembly at Maidstone very numer- 
ous; he found them likewise very disorderly and without 
government, nor easy to be reduced under any command. 
. . . The earl was a man fitter to have drawn such a body 
together by his frolic and pleasant humour, which recon- 
ciled people of all constitutions wonderfully to him, than to 
form and conduct them towards any enterprise. He had al- 
ways lived in the Court, in such a station of business as raised 
him very few enemies ; and his pleasant and jovial nature, 
which was everywhere acceptable, made him many friends, 
at least made many delighted in his company." 2 Foiled in 
his attempt to cause a rising in London, he crossed into 
Essex and occupied Colchester, where he was besieged by 
Fairfax. After a siege of over two months he was com- 
pelled by starvation to surrender on 27th August. 

It was during the siege of Colchester that Sir William 
Campion of Combwell, ancestor of the Campions of Danny, 
was killed in a sortie, as has already been mentioned. 
Lord Norwich thus announced his death to his widow: 

Colchester, June 26th 1648. 

" MADAM, 

"To offer you set comfort upon soe inexpressible 
a losse, would be noe less indiscretion in me, than im- 

1 See ante, p. 183. 2 Clarendon, xi, 55. 



SOME SUSSEX MEN 249 

portunity to you. I shall therefore only begg this on 
favour from you, for his sake that your ladyship loved 
most; and I next, that if you can any waye finde wherein 
I may sacrifice ought to his memory, to the hazard of all I 
am or ever may be, your ladyship shall then see, by the 
passion wherewith I shall undertake it, how really I was 
his, and how sincerely, madam, I am, madam, your lady- 
ship's all bound and faithful servant, 

" NORWICH." 

" I most humbly pray your ladyship to let my wife 
know, I never was better in health and heart in all my 
life, and that I wrote to her twice very lately." 1 

Norwich was tried before a high court specially con- 
stituted, and condemned to death. He was respited by the 
House of Commons the casting vote of the Speaker, 
Lenthall, turning the scale and set at liberty. He lived 
to see the Restoration, and died in January 1663, aged 
about eighty. His eldest son had died in Madrid six years 
before, in a very destitute condition. He appears to have 
taken service in the Spanish army, and was certainly 
present at the Siege of Barcelona in 1652. Two letters 
written by him in May of that year, " from the army 
before Barcelona," to his father and his brother, Colonel 
Charles Goring, describe his necessities and infirmities, 
and are of considerable local interest from their references 
to the estates of Danny and Hurstpierpoint. 2 It appears 
that they were managed by two trustees, Tom Hippesley 
and Timothy Butts, who managed to keep them out of the 
hands of the sequestrators, but paid none of the proceeds 
to the Gorings. Perhaps these were inconsiderable, as the 
properties had been mortgaged for large sums to meet 

1 Danny MSS. 

2 Cal. Com. for Compounding, vol. i, p. 597. They are also printed 
in S. A. C., xix, 98-100. 



250 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the extravagant expenses of George Goring, and his father's 
contributions to the King's chest. 

The second son, Charles Goring, succeeded his father 
as Earl of Norwich, but on his death, without issue, the 
title became extinct. 



CHAPTER XV 

WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE 

ON ist January 1651, the younger Charles was crowned 
King at Scone with such splendour as the trouble of 
the times admitted. On his arrival at Speymouth in the 
previous June he had been compelled to swear to the 
Covenants, and he repeated the oath at his coronation. 
His position was far from pleasant or secure, and soon 
became untenable. An English army was in possession of 
Edinburgh and all the south of Scotland ; and in August 
Cromwell, having crossed the Firth of Forth with his main 
body of troops, marched on Perth, which surrendered on 
2nd August. As a last desperate stroke Charles resolved 
to throw himself upon England, and trust to the chance 
of a general rising. Breaking up his camp at Stirling, he 
marched rapidly southwards with an army of 20,000 men. 
He met with little opposition, but with small success in 
the raising of recruits. He had hoped to raise Lancashire, 
but Lancashire was indifferent. He reached Worcester on 
the 22nd August. His weary and dispirited army could go 
no further, and he decided to remain there and to fortify 
the city. 

This invasion does not seem to have caused any great 
fear of Royalist risings in the south of England, such as 
had occurred in 1648, when Hamilton led a Scottish army 
into Lancashire. But some precautionary measures were 
taken. On 28th August the House ordered that the Sussex 
militia regiment was immediately to be made up to a 

251 



252 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

strength of one thousand men, and to march forthwith to 
Oxford; Major Young to have a commission as Major. 
It is significant of the calm which reigned in the county 
that two troops of one hundred each, under Captain Stapley l 
and Captain Broughton, 2 were considered sufficient for the 
protection of East and West Sussex respectively. 3 

Meantime Cromwell was following " the Scots King " 
rapidly, and reached Warwick only two days after Charles 
entered Worcester. On 3rd September he attacked with 
an army of 30,000 men, probably twice the strength of the 
Royal forces. It was a desperate fight, " as stiff a contest, 
for four or five hours, as ever I have seen," wrote Cromwell 
to Lenthall. The Scots made a fierce resistance, and were 
finally overwhelmed in Worcester streets. " His Sacred 
Majesty escaped, by royal oaks and other miraculous 
appliances well known to mankind: but fourteen-thousand 
other men, sacred too after a sort though not majesties, 
did not escape." 4 

The story of Charles's subsequent adventures has often 
been told. It is indeed no wonder that so brave a tale of 
hairbreadth escapes and unswerving loyalties should have 
caught the popular taste. The most romantic episode in 
the romantic story of the House of Stuart, it has been 
embroidered by the fancy of novelists, and many a village 
claims a share in it for its manor-house or inn, for which 
history gives no foundation. 

Ostensibly no pains were spared by the Parliament to 
effect his capture. A proclamation issued on loth Sept- 
ember declared him a malicious and dangerous traitor to 
the peace of the Commonwealth, and offered a reward of 
one thousand pounds for his apprehension. Yet he dis- 
appeared so completely that, until news of his arrival in 

1 John Stapley, eldest son of Colonel Anthony Stapley. 

2 M.P. for Lewes in Richard Cromwell's Parliament, 1659. 

3 Council of State Proceedings, 27th and 28th August 1651. 
* Carlyle, Cromwell, iii, 155. 



WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE 253 

France reached London, it was commonly believed that 
in the flight from Worcester he had been killed by peasants 
ignorant of his rank. Perhaps the Parliament was not sorry 
to be quit of him. A repetition of his father's trial and 
execution would have been troublesome and damaging, 
and it would have resulted merely in setting his brother 
James in Charles's place. " Why should they kill Charles 
to make James King ? " as Charles himself said at a later 
day. 

The Stuarts seem to have had a special talent for wander- 
ing in disguise. Charles I rode out of Oxford and through 
several English counties disguised as John Ashburnham's 
servant; Charles II made so good a Will Jackson, that an 
inn-keeper who had delivered himself rather freely on the 
subject of Oliver Cromwell, mistrusted him as a Roundhead 
knave; and in the following century the young Pretender 
worthily carried on the family tradition. It is only neces- 
sary here to deal with that portion of Charles's journey in 
which Sussex is concerned. The following account is based 
on the narrative of Colonel Counter of Racton, which was 
written before the Restoration, and is probably more 
trustworthy than the histories compiled later, some of 
which bear traces of a desire to enhance the deserts of 
certain of the actors. The original manuscript is in the 
British Museum, having been discovered in a secret drawer 
in an old bureau, when the ancient seat of the Counters at 
Racton was dismantled about 1830. It has been several 
times printed. It is entitled " The last Act in the Miraculous 
Storie of His M ties Escape, being a true and perfect relation 
of his Conveyance, through many dangers to a safe harbour 
out of the reach of his tyranicall enemies. By Colonel 
Counter, of Rackton, in Sussex, who had the happiness to 
be instrumental in the business (as it was taken from his 
mouth by a person of worth, a little before his death)." 1 

1 Colonel Counter's name does not appear in the Dictionary of 
National Biography, where it would certainly seem to deserve a place. 



254 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Colonel George Counter, and his cousin Thomas, had 
served the King in the Civil War, and had been taken 
prisoners at the fall of Chichester. 1 In September 1651, 
the Colonel was summoned to appear before the Com- 
missioners sitting at Haberdashers' Hall, London, and to 
pay a fine of 200, or in default to suffer sequestration of 
his estate. He went accordingly and got off .100 of the 
fine; 2 but his credit being much shaken he could not 
borrow the remaining 100 in all London, and was obliged 
to repair with all speed to the country, and to obtain the 
money from " his usurer," to whom his whole estate was 
mortgaged. Having settled this business he returned home 
on the night of /th October. His lady met him at the 
door, and told him that a Devonshire gentleman was 
waiting to see him, whom, on entering, he recognized as 
Lord Wilmot. Wilmot was only slightly disguised, but 
sufficiently to prevent Thomas Counter from knowing him, 
although he had seen service under his command. Colonel 
Counter having requested his wife and his cousin to retire, 
Wilmot broke his business to him. He related how Charles, 
after the fight at Worcester, had fled northwards into 
Shropshire, and thence to Bristol in the hope of finding a 
ship to take him to the Continent. Having failed in this 
attempt, and also at the Dorsetshire ports, he was now 
lying at Heale House, near Amesbury. Dr. Henchman 3 
had recommended that one of the Sussex ports should be 
tried, and that the assistance of Colonel Counter, of whose 
fidelity he was very confident, should be obtained for this 
purpose. " Can you help us to a boat? " said Wilmot. The 
Colonel replied that for all he lived so near the sea, there 
was no man living so little acquainted with sea-faring 

1 See p. 56. 

2 Colonel Counter's narrative is here confirmed by the official 
records. The actual amount he was ordered to pay was ^127. Cal. 
Com. for Advance of Money, 2Qth August 1651. 

3 Afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, 1660-3, an d f London, 1663-75. 



WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE 255 

men, but that he would do his utmost to acquit himself of 
his duty. With this answer Wilmot was abundantly satisfied, 
and they parted for the night. 

On reaching his chamber Gounter found that his wife 
had stayed up for him, and was very insistent to know who 
the stranger was, and what his business. He replied that 
it was nothing concerning her ; but she declared that she 
knew there was enough in it to ruin him and all his family, 
and burst into a " great passion of weeping." He therefore 
went to Lord Wilmot, who desired him to inform her of the 
matter. Returning to his chamber he wiped the tears from 
his lady's eyes and unfolded the business; whereupon she 
smiled and said : " Go on and prosper, but I fear you will 
hardly do it." 

Next day an attempt was made to find a boat at Ems- 
worth and at other places on the coast, but with no success. 
Captain Thomas Gounter had been taken into his cousin's 
confidence, and he also tried to obtain a boat, but in vain. 
Then the Colonel bethought him of a merchant in Chi- 
chester, one Mr. Francis Mansel, that traded with France, 
whom he knew by sight. Him he called upon and asked 
him if he could freight a bark, " for," he said, " I have two 
special friends of mine who have been engaged in a duel> 
and there is mischief done, and I am obliged to get them 
off if I can." 

Mr. Mansel was confident that he could do so at Bright- 
helmstone, and the Colonel promised him fifty pounds for 
his pains if he could effect the business, and pressed him 
to ride thither with him immediately. But it being Stowe 
fair day, and his partner absent, Mr. Mansel could not go 
until the next day, which was agreed upon. Meantime Lord 
Wilmot had returned to Mr. Laurence Hyde's house at 
Hinton Daubeny, and Colonel Gounter, according to 
promise, repaired thither to tell him all that was done, of 
which his lordship greatly approved. He rode home in the 
night, and next morning started from Chichester with 



256 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Mr. Mansel for Brighthelmstone. They arrived there about 
two o'clock to find that the shipmaster they expected to 
meet had left, but providentially he had touched at Shore- 
ham, where they found him. He was a native of Bright- 
helmstone, by name Nicholas Tettersall. To him Mansel 
told the same story as Wilmot had told him, and next day 
they came to an agreement that Tettersall was to carry the 
passengers over to the French coast, and to be paid sixty 
pounds before he took them on board. He was to be in 
readiness to sail at an hour's warning, and the merchant 
was to remain on the spot, under pretence of freighting the 
bark, in order to see everything ready against the return of 
the Colonel with his two friends. 

Colonel Counter then rode back with all speed to 
Mr. Hyde's, where he found Captain Robert Phelips of 
Montacute, in Somerset, a devoted adherent of the royal 
cause, who, on hearing his story, exclaimed : " Thou shalt 
be a saint in my almanack for ever." Lord Wilmot being 
also informed how things stood, they consulted who should 
go to the King; and it was decided that Colonel Phelips 
should go, as Colonel Counter was greatly in need of rest. 

On Monday, I3th October, Wilmot and the two Counters 
went out on the downs with a brace of greyhounds as if to 
have a course at a hare, and presently met Colonel Phelips 
conducting the King. It was decided to lodge that night 
at the house of Counter's sister, the wife of Thomas Symons, 
in the village of Hambledon, who received the party cor- 
dially, and set wine, ale, and biscuits before them. Pre- 
sently her husband came home, " a loyal hearty gentleman, 
but too great a lover of the bottle." And it plainly appeared 
that he had " been in company." He was inclined to be 
annoyed at finding so many visitors in his house. " This is 
brave," he said ; " a man can no sooner be out of the way 
than his house must be taken up with I know not whom." 
But seeing his brother-in-law he made them all welcome. 
Then noticing the close-cropped head and plain attire of 




CHARLES II AT THE AGE OF NINETEEN. 



WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE 257 

Charles, who passed under the name of Will Jackson, he 
said: "Here is a Roundhead; I never knew you to keep 
Roundheads' company before." But the Colonel, answering 
for him as his friend, he took him by the shoulder and 
drank a glass of strong ale with him, and called him 
" brother Roundhead," a character which Charles kept up 
by gravely reproving him for a profane oath. 

Next morning Charles bade farewell to Colonel Phelips 
and to Thomas Counter, with thanks for their fidelity and 
service, and continued his journey to Brighthelmstone with 
Lord Wilmot and his servant and Colonel Counter. The 
first part of his ride through Sussex, and the aspect of the 
country at the time, is admirably described by Harrison 
Ainsworth in Ovingdean Grange. 

" After quitting the forest and skirting Stanstead Park, 
the Royal party pursued their way through a lovely and 
well-wooded district, until they came to the foot of an 
eminence called Bow Hill, and entered the narrow and 
picturesque vale denominated Kingly Bottom so called 
from a battle between the inhabitants of Chichester and 
the Danes and Charles failed not to notice the group of 
venerable yew-trees venerable in his days, though still 
extant, with the trifle of two centuries added to their age 
that adorn the valley. After this, they passed Stoke Down, 
bestowing a passing observation on the curious circular 
hollows indented in the sod. 

" From the acclivities over which the travellers next rode, 
the ancient and picturesque city of Chichester could be 
seen on the level land near the sea, the tall spire and pin- 
nacles of its noble cathedral, the adjacent bell-tower, and 
the quaint old octagonal market-cross, erected in the fif- 
teenth century, all rising above the crumbling walls still 
surrounding the city. As Charles looked towards this fine 
old cathedral, he could not help deploring to his com- 
panions the damage it had sustained at the hands of the 
sacrilegious Republican soldiers. 

s 



258 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

" Avoiding Chichester, the king and his company pursued 
their way along the beautiful and well-wooded slopes of the 
Goodwood downs. If the journey had been unattended 
with risk, it would have been delightful; but, beset by 
peril as he was on all sides, Charles did not lose his sense 
of enjoyment The constant presence of danger had made 
him well-nigh indifferent to it. Constitutionally brave, 
almost reckless, he was assailed by no idle apprehensions. 
The chief maxim in his philosophy was to make the most 
of the passing moment, and not to let the chances of future 
misfortune damp present enjoyment. 

"The fineness of the weather contributed materially to the 
pleasure of the ride. It was an exquisite morning, and the 
day promised to continue equally beautiful throughout. 
The trees were clothed with the glowing livery of later 
autumn, and, as the whole district was well and variously 
wooded, there was every variety of shade in the foliage 
still left, from bright yellow to deepest red. Corn was then, 
as now, extensively grown in the broad and fertile fields in 
the flat land nearer the sea, but the crops had been gathered, 
and the fields were, for the most part, covered with stubble. 
The prospect offered to the king, as he looked towards the 
coast, was varied and extensive. On the left, the ancient 
mansion of Halnaker, now in ruins, but at that time pre- 
senting a goodly specimen of the Tudor era of architecture, 
seemed to invite him to halt; and Colonel Gunter informed 
his majesty that over the buttery hatch in this old house 
were scrolls hospitably entreating visitors to ' come in and 
drink,' assuring them they would be ' les bien-venus.' Not- 
withstanding these inducements to tarry, Charles rode on, 
galloping along the fine avenue of chestnut-trees, the fallen 
leaves of which now thickly strewed the ground. 

" Halnaker was soon left behind, and ere long the some- 
what devious course of the royal party led them through 
the exquisite grove of birch-trees skirting Slindon Park, 
the remarkable beauty of the timber eliciting the warm 



WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE 259 

admiration of the king, who would fain have loitered to 
admire it at his leisure. 

" The proud-looking castle of Arundel was now visible, 
magnificently situated on the terrace of a hill, surrounded 
by noble woods, above which towered the ancient central 
keep. From the spot where the royal party surveyed it, 
about two miles off, the stately edifice looked the picture 
of feudal grandeur, but a nearer approach showed how 
grievously it had been injured. Though the interior of the 
ancient and stately fabric was mutilated and destroyed, 
though the carved tombs and monuments, stone pulpit, 
arches, altars, delicate tracery, and exquisite architectural 
ornaments of the church were defaced, though much of the 
fine timber growing near the fortress was remorselessly 
hewn down, the defences of the castle were still maintained, 
and it was even then looked upon as a place of considerable 
strength." 

As the travellers approached Arundel they met the 
governor of the castle, Captain Morley, going out to hunt. 
The better to avoid him they dismounted, and so escaped 
notice. Charles being told who it was, replied merrily: " I 
did not much like his starched mouchates." 

This incident appears to have caused the travellers to 
change their route; instead of crossing the Arun at 
Arundel, they seem to have ridden northwards, and crossed 
at Houghton Bridge. In the village they stopped at an inn 
for some bread and drink without dismounting. A ride of 
eleven miles brought them to Bramber, and as they entered 
the town they came suddenly on a party of soldiers. Lord 
Wilmot was for turning back, but Colonel Gounter said : " If 
we do we are undone. Let us go boldly on and we shall 
not be suspected " ; and the King agreed with him. And so 
it turned out. 

Gounter wished the King to make a halt at Beeding, 
where he had provided refreshment at the house of one 
Mr. Backshall; but Wilmot opposed this course in view of 



260 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the neighbourhood of the soldiers. Colonel Counter's nar- 
rative seems to suggest a slight disagreement on this 
point, with the result that Wilmot " carried the King out of 
the road I knew not whither, so we parted they where 
they thought safest, I to Brighthelmstone." 1 

Wilmot and Charles probably rode direct over the downs. 
At any rate the party met again at the "George" Inn, at 
Brighthelmstone, where they found Mr. Mansel and Nicholas 
Tettersall. After supper the landlord, one Smith by name, 
went up to Charles, and taking his hand kissed it, saying: 
"It shall not be said but I have kissed the best man's 
hand in England." The King merely laughed, and went 
into the next room, " not desiring," as he said himself, " any 
further discourse with him, there being no remedy against 
my being known by him, and more discourse might have 
but raised suspicion." Smith is said to have been previously 
one of Charles I's guards. 2 

After some difficulty with Tettersall, who at the last 
minute declined to start unless his bark was insured by 
Counter at a valuation of ^200, they took horse about two 
hours after midnight, and rode to the creek, probably at 
Southwick, to which for greater safety the vessel of 
thirty-four tons burden had been brought, Shoreham being 
at that time an important and busy place. 3 The King and 

1 There is no reason whatever to suppose that Charles broke his 
journey between Hambledon and Brighton, at Amberley or Houghton, 
as suggested in an article entitled Route of Charles II through Sussex 
in S. A. C., xviii. The writer is very inaccurate ; he confuses Captain 
Morley, governor of Arundel, with Colonel Herbert Morley, and even 
with Sir William Waller; and he exaggerates the distance. Colonel 
Counter's narrative is a much safer guide. 

2 There is considerable diversity of detail in the accounts of what 
passed on this night at Brighthelmstone. The whole matter is treated 
exhaustively in Mr. F. E. Sawyer's Captain Nicholas Tettersall and 
the escape of Charles the Second, S. A. C., xxxii, 81 seq. 

3 There is some doubt as to the actual place of embarkation. We 
know from Counter's narrative that the vessel, when chartered, was 
lying at Shoreham. Clarendon and other writers not acquainted with 



WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE 261 

Lord Wilmot, having said farewell to Colonel Counter, 
climbed on board, and lay down in the little cabin till the 
tide came. At eight in the morning they set sail. Counter 
remained on the beach with the horses ready, in case any- 
thing untoward should happen, till the afternoon, when 
they passed out of sight. Next morning Charles landed 
safely at Fecamp in Normandy. No sooner was he on 
shore than a violent storm came on, so that Tettersall 
was forced to cut his cable, and lost his anchor to save 
his boat, for which he required of Counter eight pounds, 
" and had it." 

Nicholas Tettersall seems to have been by no means 
lacking in astuteness. At the Restoration he took his vessel 
into the Thames and moored her opposite Whitehall, no 
doubt as a gentle reminder of his claims. Soon after she 
was entered as a fifth-rate in the navy, when her name was 
changed from the Surprise to the Royal Escape, and she 
appears in the Navy List of 1684 as a smack of thirty-four 
tons, ten men, no guns. 1 Tettersall himself was made a 
Captain in the Navy, and received a pension of 100 a 
year. Colonel Counter, who had been chiefly instrumental 
in arranging the escape, died before the Restoration, leav- 
ing his estate encumbered with a debt of ^"3,000, chiefly 
expended in the King's service. It does not appear that 
anything was done to relieve his family of this burden, but 
his widow obtained a pension of 200 a year for twenty-one 
years, and there is extant a letter of Charles II, dated 
4th May 1664, recommending his son, George Counter, 

the locality speak of Brighthelmstone as the place whence Charles set 
sail, but the King himself, in his account dictated to Samuel Pepys, 
definitely states that he and his companions " went toward Shoreham, 
taking the master of the ship with us on horseback behind one of our 
company." Finding the vessel lying dry, it being low water, he and 
Lord Wilmot "got up with a ladder into her." When it was high 
water "they went out of the port." This seems to render untenable 
the opinion that they embarked from Brighton beach. 
1 S. A. C., xxxii, 90. 



262 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

then a boy at Winchester, for a scholarship at New 
College. 1 

Mr. Francis Mansel, the merchant of Chichester, was 
granted a pension of 200 a year. But it does not seem to 
have been regularly paid, and as he was taxed on the 
strength of it, may have been rather a burden than a 
blessing. Samuel Pepys met him in 1667. " And so away 
with the 'chequer men to the Leg in King Street, and there 
had wine for them: and here was one in company with 
them, that was the man that got the vessel to carry over 
the King from Bredhemson, who hath a pension of 200 
per annum, but ill paid, and the man is looking after getting 
of a prize-ship to live by ; but the trouble is that the poor 
man who hath received no part of his money these four 
years and is ready to starve almost, must yet pay to the 
Poll Bill for this pension. He told me several particulars 
of the King's coming thither, which was mighty pleasant, 
and shews how mean a thing a king is, how subject to fall, 
and how like other men he is in his afflictions." * 

The legend that Charles visited Ovingdean Grange, of 
which Harrison Ainsworth made use, has no foundation in 
fact, but is of respectable antiquity. "When the Geers 
lived at Ovingdean Farm, Charles the Second lay con- 
cealed here, till he had an opportunity of embarking at 
Brighton for France. His person had such an effect on the 
good woman of the house that her next child (a very fine 
boy) was said to be the picture of the King." 3 

It was fortunate for Counter and others who had assisted 
Charles in his escape that until the Restoration he gave no 
true account of his adventures. He is even said to have 
amused himself by concocting a fictitious story. He asserted 
that he owed his safety after Worcester not to the Penderels 

1 S. A. C., xxxii, 103. - Pepys' Diary, ed. Wheatley, vi, 188. 

3 Rev. Mr. Morgan's letter to Sir William Burrell, dated March 
1780. Burrell MSS. in British Museum, No. 5684, p. 93. S. A. C., xiii, 
307- 



WORCESTER AND BRIGHTHELMSTONE 263 

and Jane Lane, but to a soldier who had formerly been a 
highwayman and knew every by-path in the neighbourhood. 
He further declared that after his concealment in the oak 
he had made his way to London, where he disguised him- 
self as a washerwoman, and passed through the streets 
carrying a basket of linen on his head. 1 

1 Gardiner, Commonwealth, ch. xvii. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 

THE advantage which accrued to the Parliamentary 
cause from the adhesion of the navy has not always 
been duly estimated. The influence of sea-power on history 
is somewhat of a modern discovery. In the case of the 
Civil War its effects were more negative than positive; it 
must be judged rather by what it prevented than by what 
it achieved. When war was imminent the Parliament 
appointed the Earl of Warwick as Vice-Admiral to the 
Earl of Northumberland, Lord High Admiral, a somewhat 
lukewarm supporter of the popular party, who readily 
acquiesced. There was some demur on the part of a few 
captains, but Warwick carried the fleet with him. Perhaps 
an incautious remark of Charles about " water-rats " helped 
to bring about this result. Even in great crises petty 
personal feelings sometimes have an undue influence. 

The Prince of Orange at any rate understood what the 
command of the sea and the possession of London meant 
to the Parliament ; he told Dr. Stephen Goffe * that if the 
King could preserve himself until he could by sea do 
something upon the rebels and their London trade, they 
would be instantly ruined. 2 

Throughout the greater part of the war the Parliament 
was able, through its possession of the fleet, to keep open 
the trade of London and other ports of the kingdom, and 
to render difficult Royalist communications with foreign 

1 See ch. viii. 2 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dvii, 37. 

264 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 265 

countries. The continual failure of the attempts to bring 
over foreign contingents was partly due to the existence of 
a strong Parliamentary fleet. Such incidents as the whole- 
sale drowning of Irish troops captured by Captain Swanley 
off the coast of Pembroke made projects of invasion appear 
hazardous. 

And the Parliament was also able to communicate with, 
and send supplies to, its Generals in remote parts of the 
kingdom when intervening counties were held by the 
Royalists. In July 1644 Essex was in Devonshire and 
wanted pay for his troops. The committee of both king- 
doms sent 20,000 through Surrey and Sussex to Arundel, 
Chichester, and Portsmouth, whence it was shipped to the 
west. It was convoyed by a troop of Kentish horse, assisted 
by Colonels Morley and Stapley. 1 

During the "Presbyterian-Royalist" outbreak of 1648 
several ships revolted and formed the nucleus of a Royalist 
fleet under the Prince of Wales. But beyond a temporary 
occupation of the three castles in the Downs Deal, 
Walmer, and Sandown under cover of their guns, little 
was achieved. 

To the Sussex coast towns the Parliamentary command 
of the sea was of great importance. The trade of Rye with 
the continent has already been mentioned. 2 A description 
of the harbour, dated 1652, states "there may lye afloat at 
lowe water 15 or 20 sayle of shippes, which draw 3 and 3^ 
fathome water and have more water than they draw by 
4 or 6 foot ; and at the same tyme further up in the Channel! 
may ride afloat at lowe water 50 or 60 sayle of ships which 
draw 12 or 13 foot water, all without prejudice one to the 
other. There is a very good conveniency for ships to cleane 
and tallow, careeninge afloat or groundinge adry which they 
please." 3 

In spite of occasional trouble from the Royalist privateers, 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. I, dii, 40. - See ante, p. 13. 

3 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 219. 



266 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

a fairly regular service of packets was maintained through- 
out the war and under the Commonwealth between Rye and 
Dieppe. " We humbly certify that during the time of the 
late differences in this nation, there hath always been a 
fair correspondence between this town and Dieppe in 
France, the Governour thereof behaving himself very civilly 
and courteously towards the friends of this State and deny- 
ing entertainment to pirates." l An example of the pleasant 
relations of the authorities of Rye and Dieppe occurred in 
1557. The Mayor wrote to the Governor: " I am informed 
that a barque, whereof one George Broadbridge was master, 
being surprised by the enemy was by some Frenchmen of 
your town together with the help of the barque's men re- 
gained and brought into Dieppe, and for their salvage they 
intend to make her their prize. The enemy have taken the 
master prisoner, and intend to set a ransom on him. Where- 
fore on the poor man's behalf I desire your favour that 
what may be reasonable for your men's salvage of the 
barque may be allowed and the barque restored." 2 

Among notable visitors to Rye was John Evelyn, the 
diarist. After a long absence abroad, he had returned to 
London in February 1652, in time to see "the magnificent 
funeral of that arch-rebel Ireton, carried in pomp from 
Somerset House to Westminster." Having decided to 
bring his wife over from Paris, he went to " Colonel Morley, 
one of their Council of State, as then called, who had been 
my school-fellow, 3 to request a pass for my wife's safe 
landing, and the goods she was to bring with her out of 
France, which he courteously granted, and did me many 
other kindnesses, that was a great matter in those days." 4 
Having received a letter from Colonel Morley to the magis- 
trates and searchers at Rye, to assist the lady at her 
landing and show her all civility, Evelyn set out on the 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 218. June 3, 1652. 

2 ibid.) p. 229. 3 At Lewes Grammar School. 
4 Evelyn's Diary, 3oth May 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 267 

4th of June to meet her at the port, " where was an embargo 
on occasion of the late conflict with the Holland fleet, the 
two nations being now in war, and which made sailing very 
unsafe." He was kept waiting several days, the Channel 
passage being at the time a very uncertain affair. " On 
Whitsunday I went to the church (which is a very fair one) 
and heard one of the canters, who dismissed the assembly 
very rudely and without any blessing. Here I stayed till 
the loth with no small impatience, when I walked over to 
survey the ruins of Winchelsea, that ancient cinque-port, 
which by the remains and ruins of ancient streets and 
public structures discovers it to have been formerly a con- 
siderable and large city. There are to be seen vast caves 
and vaults, walls and towers, ruins of monasteries and of a 
sumptuous church, in which are some handsome monu- 
ments, especially of the Templars, buried just in the 
manner of those in the Temple at London. This place 
being now all in rubbish, and a few despicable hovels and 
cottages only standing, hath yet a mayor. 1 The sea, which 
formerly rendered it a rich and commodious port, has now 
forsaken it. On the nth, about four in the afternoon being 
at bowls on the green, we discovered a vessel, which proved 
to be that in which my wife was, and which got into the 
harbour about eight that evening to my no small joy. 
They had been three days at sea, and escaped the Dutch 
fleet, through which they had passed, taken for fishers, 
which was great good fortune, there being seventeen bales 
of furniture and other rich plunder, which I bless God 
came all safe to land, together with my wife, and my Lady 
Browne her mother, who accompanied her. My wife being 
discomposed by having been so long at sea, we set not 
forth towards home till the I4th, when hearing the small- 
pox was very rife in and about London, and Lady Browne 
having a desire to drink Tunbridge waters, I carried them 

1 Mr. Evelyn might have added that Winchelsea returned two 
members to Parliament. 



268 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

thither, and stayed in a very sweet place, private and 
refreshing, and took the waters myself till the 23rd, when 
I went to prepare for their reception, leaving them for the 
present in their little cottage by the wells." Poor Lady 
Browne did not derive much permanent benefit from the 
Tunbridge waters, as a month later she was " taken with a 
scarlet fever and died." 

Not only was the traffic of passengers to and from 
France an important affair, but the commerce of Rye at 
this time was also very considerable. It was the chief port 
of shipment for the iron produced at the Sussex ironworks. 
A curious circumstance is the large number of horses ex- 
ported to France and Flanders, so large that it was thought 
to be harmful to the public service, and prohibited in 1653, 
except by leave of the Council of State. Even under this 
limited authority, the number sent was still great, the 
warrant books being filled with counterfoils relating to 
horses forwarded from Rye for persons of distinction on 
the Continent. In 1656 fifteen couples of hounds, and in 
1657 twelve couples, were sent under a pass to Dieppe. 1 

Continual applications were made throughout the period 
for protection from the Dunkirk privateers in the King's 
service, of which Beachey Head was a favourite lurking- 
place. 2 During the war the Parliamentary fleet was too 
fully occupied to give much attention to such police work, 
but with the establishment of the Commonwealth strong 
measures were at once taken by the Government to protect 
the Sussex fishermen and traders. On June pth 1649, 
Colonel Edward Popham sent an order to Captain Wheatley 
of the Warspite: " Hearing from some members of the 
House serving for Sussex and from the Governor of Rye 
that the coast has been much infested with pirates and 
picaroons since the surprisal of the Robert frigate, appointed 
for that service, you are to repair with your vessel to Rye 

1 S. A. C., xxxix, 4. 

3 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., ii, 17, 63; Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 157. 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 269 

and Bredhempson, and other ports and creeks of Sussex, 
and acquaint the people that you are ordered to attend 
there and convoy vessels bound to London with corn, etc." l 
Ten days later Captain Pierce was ordered to draw as near 
the coast of Sussex as he could so as to meet the picaroons 
which lurked under Beachey and thereabouts, annoying 
poor fishermen and others that trade to and from Sussex 
and London. 2 And in August the Council of State sent 
similar instructions to Captain Henley of the Minion? 

A very special privilege was obtained in 1652, the Rye- 
Dieppe service being exempted from the embargo laid on 
all French shipping. 4 

Great shot, guns, cables, anchors and other iron manu- 
factures were constantly shipped from Rye to the fleet in 
the Downs, the Tower of London, and King's Lynn. The 
chief contractor for freight was William Key, shipowner, 
whose farthing tokens are well known to numismatists. 
They bear on one side a ship in full sail, on the other the 
initials W.I.K. The legend, commenced on one side and 
finished on the other, is " William Keye at the Sheepe Inn, 
Rye, 1652." s He married Anne, sister of Samuel Jeake the 
elder, 8 and died in 1666. 

Smuggling, which became so important a Sussex industry 
in the eighteenth century, was not unknown in the seven- 
teenth. Lewis Gilliat, a French haberdasher and tradesman, 
who did a large business in shipping horses and other com- 
modities to France, and was certified by the Mayor in 1654 
as a professor of the Protestant religion, a resident in Rye 
for thirteen years, and a man of good report, 7 was charged 
in 1650 with being concerned in smuggling French silks." 
" In 1658 his son Claude was indicted and convicted, on the 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., iv, 4. * lbtd. y 17. 

3 Ibid., 63. * Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 218. 

5 S. A. C., xxiv, 133; xxxix, 9. 6 See ante, p. 78. 

7 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 224. 

8 S. A. C., xxxix, 10. 



270 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

prosecution of an informer, of having exercised the com- 
bined mysteries of a haberdasher and grocer without being 
duly qualified by apprenticeship. His fellow townsmen, 
however, who probably had a constitutional and hereditary 
sympathy for the family of a suspected smuggler, were well 
disposed towards him, and the informer having recovered 
i of the fine imposed, viz., 12, the rest was remitted." l 

But in the seventeenth century, as for centuries before, 
the Sussex maritime population was busy not with " free 
trade " in imports, but with the export smuggling of wool. 
The export of wool was either wholly prohibited or only 
permitted under licence on payment of a heavy duty. The 
Sussex " owlers " set these provisions at defiance, openly 
brought down the woolpacks on horseback to the seashore 
and loaded French vessels with them. In 1656 it was 
affirmed that although the exportation was prohibited al- 
most as a felony, there was nothing more daily practised. 3 
All classes were concerned in this unlawful trade, even the 
magistrates were not ill-disposed towards it, and legal pro- 
ceedings against "these caterpillars " when detected com- 
monly failed. It was estimated that in two years no less than 
forty thousand packs were shipped from the coasts of Kent 
and Sussex to Calais alone. It was too much to expect 
that the landowners and their dependents in these counties 
would acquiesce in provisions made in the interest of the 
clothiers of Wilts, Worcester, Gloucester, and Essex. Re- 
stricted trade ever seeks an outlet, as water seeks a level. 

The North Sea fishery was a great source of wealth to 
the Sussex seaports, especially Hastings, Rye, and Bright- 
helmstone, but was rendered somewhat precarious by the 
operations of the privateers. In August 1644 the Mayor 
and Jurats of Rye represented the great distress their poor 
fishermen were in, because they could not go about their 
calling for fear of being taken by the King's men-of-war, 

1 S. A. C. xxxix, 10. 

8 The Golden Fleece, by W. S., Gent., 1656, p. 67; S. A. C., x, 73. 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 271 

having already that summer lost one gainfull voyage to the 
North Sea to take fish, and not daring to adventure to 
Yarmouth to take herring; these two voyages being the 
chief means of the year for their maintenance, and if they 
should be deprived of both, it would prove their utter un- 
doing, and they would not be able to subsist the next win- 
ter. Their necessities, therefore, being so great, and like to 
be greater, they determined to petition the honourable House 
of Parliament to let them have safe convoys to Yarmouth, 
and to stay with them all the fishing season. 1 The follow- 
ing year, while the fishing fleet was absent at Yarmouth, 
Colonel Morley was informed that two men-of-war had been 
lying for a long time in the bay, and that there was great 
fear that unless a frigate were at once sent, the fishing boats 
would be surprised and captured on their return. 2 A similar 
request was made to the Commissioners of the Navy in 
February 1659 for the protection of boats engaged during 
spring and summer in the mackerel fishery. 3 The Bright- 
helmstone fishermen also in July 1653, in the middle of the 
Dutch war, petitioned for a convoy for fifty boats sailing 
for the North Sea, and no doubt obtained it* 

Another fugitive of importance found his way to France 
through Sussex. In January 1652 Lieut-General John 
Middleton, a prisoner in the Tower, escaped thence in his 
wife's clothes. The Council of State sent urgent letters to 
all the ports, and offered a reward of 200 for his apprehen- 
sion ; ' but in vain. In May one Abel Tabret * gave certain 
information which the Council referred to Colonels Morley 
and Stapley and Messrs. Hay, Baker, Gratwicke, and Bur- 
bridge directing them to send for and examine any of the 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 215. 

' 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid., p. 233. 

4 Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 157. 

5 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., xxiii, 5. 

6 A Sussex name; see Sussex Marriage licences, Sussex Record 
Society, vol. vi. 



272 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

persons mentioned in the information who should be found 
in Co. Sussex, and who had anything to do with Middle- 
ton's escape. Colonel Morley was requested to give special 
care to the business. 1 It does not appear that anything im- 
portant resulted. 

The Dutch war of 1652 was the inevitable outcome of 
the increasing commercial rivalry of England and Holland, 
especially in the East Indian trade. The high-handed pro- 
ceedings of the Dutch in the Spice Islands, and the mas- 
sacre of Amboyna in 1623, had occasioned many fruitless 
demands for redress from James and Charles, but neither 
was willing to push his claims to the point of war. The new 
ruler of England was of different stuff. Sincerely anxious 
to avoid a war between the two Protestant republics, 
Cromwell yet knew that the time had come for England to 
make a bold bid for the trade of the world, and especially 
for the carrying of it. If we put Germany for England, and 
Great Britain for Holland, the conditions of the last quarter 
of a century have not been very unlike those which pre- 
vailed in the middle of the seventeenth. 

Far and near the operations of the Dutch merchants had 
extended China, Australia, the Cape, North and South 
America no corner of the world was too remote for 
Dutch enterprise. " The carrying trade of Holland was at 
its zenith, and a source of great wealth to the whole country. 
Seven hundred ships were engaged in the Levant and 
Barbary markets: three thousand vessels plied between 
Hamburg and Holland, while many hundred craft were 
concerned in the home or Baltic trade. It was no wonder 
that to strangers the ' stems ' in the harbour of Amsterdam 
seemed as those of the Ardennes forests in winter." z 

The first step was a legislative one. In 1651 Parliament 
passed the Navigation Act, providing that no goods might 
be imported from Asia, Africa, or America save in an 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., xxiv, 13. 

2 Anna van Schurman, by Una Birch, Lond., 1909, p. 93. 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 273 

English ship, with a crew at least one-half English, or in 
ships of the country where the goods were produced. The 
Dutch protested, but the Act gave no pretext for war. 
War came a year later with the refusal of Tromp, the 
greatest of Dutch admirals, to strike his flag to Blake in 
acknowledgement of the English claim to sovereignty of 
the seas surrounding the island. On i8th May 1652 Blake, 
who had been lying in Rye Bay for a week previously, was 
off Fairlight, whence he proceeded to the Downs to en- 
counter Tromp. In the battle which ensued on Tromp's 
refusal to obey Blake's summons, the Dutch were defeated 
with some loss. After the action Blake returned to his 
anchorage at Rye. Open war followed. 

The Dutch were reputed the leading maritime nation of 
the age, and victory might have been expected to lie with 
them. But such was not the event. The Parliamentary 
navy had been brought to a great pitch of efficiency, largely 
through the exertions of Sir Henry Vane; the English 
ships were bigger and better armed than the Dutch; the 
crews more efficient; and the Government behind them 
possessed concentration of purpose and energy in a high 
degree points in which the loose Dutch confederation was 
deficient. "Dutch War: cannonadings and fierce sea-fights 
in the narrow seas; land- soldiers drafted to fight on ship- 
board; and land-officers, Blake, Dean and Monk, who 
became very famous sea-officers; Blake a thrice-famous 
one. They doggedly beat the Dutch, and again beat them ; 
their best Van Tromps and De Ruyters could not stand 
these terrible Puritan Sailors and Gunners. The Dutch 
gradually grew tame." l 

To the Sussex coast-towns the conflict was of the first 
importance. Not only did many of the sea-fights take 
place within their sight or hearing, but their fishing fleets 
and merchant vessels were liable to capture, and the ports 

1 Carlyle, Cromwell, Letter clxxxiv. 
T 



274 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

themselves were exposed to attack. Colonel Morley was 
authorized to raise forces for the defence of the county. 1 
In August De Ruyter was off the Sussex coast: a letter 
from Lewes says " this day appeared at Brighthelmstone 
a great fleet of Holland men of war passing by, being in 
all about 80. ... They took a Sussex bark near Hastings. 
They chased another fisherman ashore near Brighthelm- 
stone, whom they plundered and so left her." 2 

A month later, on his way back up Channel, he was off 
Beachy Head, and the Council of State warned the Sussex 
ports to stay all shipping. 3 On 3Oth November the Dutch 
fleet defeated Blake off Dungeness. Blake retreated to the 
Downs, and the Dutch landed foraging parties in Kent and 
Sussex. The London journalists made a good deal of these 
incursions. " This day we understand by several letters 
from Romney Marsh in Kent, and several parts of Sussex, 
that the Dutch fleet (who now lie near Rye) have come 
ashore and plundered the people, and driven away much 
sheep and cattle of a considerable value, but for their pre- 
servation forces both horse and foot are drawn into these 
parts. . . . Further also by letters from Rye they write that 
the Dutch fleet being dispersed upon that coast, takes all 
vessels and boats that come there, and that the people are 
much amazed, and full of fears, the disaffected much height- 
ened in their spirit ; but a speedy care will be herein taken 
to curb their haughtiness." 4 Another paper stated that the 
raiders " drove away abundance of cattle and sheep and 
plundered divers houses, and so consequently put the 
country into a lamentable fear. Saturday night the army 
drew into those parts, and the foot from Sion College, and 
St. James's, to prevent the like invasions for the future." 5 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., xxiv, Qth August 1652. 
z Mercurius Politicus, p. 1818, I4th August 1642. 

3 S. P. Dom., Interreg., xxiv, I7th September 1652. 

4 A perfect account, etc., ist to 8th December 1652. 

5 The Moderate Intelligencer, ist to 8th December 1652. 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 275 

In the early days of the Dutch war a somewhat unusual 
event occurred at Rye. On 2 1st September the Marline 
frigate entered at the port, and the officers informed the 
Mayor and Jurats that shortly before their arrival the 
captain, Peter Warren, had killed one John Wright, a 
passenger in the ship, and presented him as a prisoner, 
desiring that he might be secured until further order. 1 An 
inquest was held on the body of Wright, and the town 
authorities having committed the captain to custody, asked 
for direction of the Council of State. The Council immedi- 
ately ordered three of the deputies of the Serjeant-at-Arms 
to go to Rye and take into custody " the late captain of 
the Marline [or Merlin\ frigate." The action of the local 
authorities was approved ; and they were ordered to send 
up three witnesses to testify to the killing of the man. 8 
Captain Warren was committed to Newgate to be tried for 
murder. 3 It is significant that in a petition of Eleanor 
Warren, dated 2ist October 1652, she is described as his 
widow. 

The Dutch war gave a great stimulus to the Sussex 
iron-working industry, there being a pressing demand for 
shot for the navy. On 8th August 1653 Thomas Newberry 
wrote to the Ordnance officers describing a journey to 
various forges in Sussex, with the object of making con- 
tracts. He went to Colonel Stapley to discuss the matter 
with him, but found that he knew nothing of the business. 
Mr. Farrenden, an iron-master, said he had no water at 
present, but could make 100 tons by March, but he would 
not deliver it further from his furnace than Hastings or 
Rye, and his lowest price was 13 ior. per ton. Mr. Ever- 
den of Lewes, Mr. Akehurst of Warbleton, and some other 
mill-owners also wanted water. When they had it they 
would ascertain how much they could make, contract for a 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), P- 9- 
3 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., xxiv, 137, 14- 
3 Ibid., 150. 



276 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

considerable quantity, and deliver it in March, but none 
would deliver it further from the furnaces than " the water- 
side edge." Walter Burrell had set his furnace at work 
casting shot, and demanded 14 per ton, to be delivered 
in the Tower. Mr. Stendwick's men were casting shot, and 
he had fifteen tons ready ; he would cast five tons weekly, 
and provide 100 tons by the end of November, and 
he was about supplying another furnace. Mr. Yalden 
of Blackdown had a stock of metal and water, and might 
send a quantity of shot to Portsmouth, only he was 
straitened for workmen at the time. As the previous 
week had been wet, it was probable that some of the works 
would be furnished with water soon. " I offered Mr. Burrell 
12 per ton," concluded Mr. Newberry, "but conceive he 
will not like less than 13 " l 

The Mr. Yalden of Blackdown above-mentioned, sat for 
Midhurst in Richard Cromwell's Parliament of 1659. He 
is said to have been a personal friend of Oliver Cromwell, 
and to have entertained him at Blackdown House. 2 William 
Yalden, or Yaldwyn, of Blackdown, was appointed High 
Sheriff of Sussex in 1656* 

In October 1653, with what object does not appear, un- 
less it were to save the expense of a garrison, the Council 
of State decided that the walls and works of Arundel 
Castle should be slighted, and the place disgarrisoned. The 
Governor of Portsmouth was ordered to sell the salt and 
victuals then in the castle towards the cost of slighting, 
which was to be done with some of the powder stored in 
the castle, the rest being removed to Portsmouth ; the keys 
to be delivered, to Mr. Howard. 4 

1 S. P. Dom., Interreg., xxxix, 31. 

2 S. A. C., xxviii, 99. I can discover no authority for this visit. 
Dallaway speaks of the tradition that Blackdown was occasionally 
frequented by Oliver Cromwell in secret as " not well founded." 

3 The documents with reference to this appointment signed 
" Oliver P." are printed by Dallaway II, i, 363 n. 

4 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., xli, 26, 153. 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 277 

In spite of constant war the manufacture of gunpowder 
in Sussex does not seem to have prospered. In 1658 
Captain Walter Everenden of Battle presented the follow- 
ing petition to the Protector, Richard Cromwell. " It is 
experimentally known that the best pistol and fowling 
powder was made at Battle; the maker is now fallen to 
decay and is unable to carry on the work, and has applied 
to me for a large loan of money; but I am unwilling to 
enter on the business without your consent. I beg an order 
licensing me to make 8 or 10 tons yearly, this being such 
a proportion as will defray my costs." ' Whether Everenden 
established his business or not, the manufacture of gun- 
powder at Battle became an important industry. In the 
eighteenth century it was reputed "the finest gunpowder, 
perhaps the best in Europe." a 

With the decline of its ports, and the increase in size of 
ships required for the navy, Sussex had ceased to have any 
importance as a ship-building county. But the necessity 
of turning out fighting ships as quickly as possible, and 
the great pressure on the Government yards, led to the 
employment of every private yard which was available. 
In 1654 the Dover, a fourth-rate, 533 tons, 48 guns, was 
built at Shoreham by a London builder, 3 the first and the 
biggest of the men-of-war built in that port. It was found 
that when launched there was hardly enough water to enable 
her to get out of the port to go to Chatham to be fitted 
out. 

As the war proceeded there was an increasing difficulty 
in obtaining seamen for the navy, partly due to the superior 
attractions of privateering. To an order from the Council 
of State that men should be impressed for the service of 
the fleet, the Mayor of Rye replied that owing to the 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., clxxxii, 34. 
- Defoe's Tour, 182. 

3 Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 157; see also The Ships and Manners of 
Shoreham, by Henry Cheal, Junr. [1910], p. 5. 



278 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

number of men already so serving, the town afforded none 
but unserviceable men, aged or sick ; and that the fishing 
masters were so short of crews that they had sent for men 
out of France, five or six apiece, to supply their wants for 
the fishing season. 1 

Two or three years later when the naval operations of 
the Commonwealth were extending into distant seas, the 
difficulty of procuring men for foreign service became very 
great ; the loss of life from disease during the West India 
expedition of 1654-5 having rendered service in the tropics 
unpopular. In January 1656 Blake and Lambert applied 
to Rye requiring sixty able seamen to be impressed, be- 
tween the ages of fifteen and sixty, each man to be furnished 
with "twelve pence press money and three halfpence a 
mile conduct to Dover," at which town they were to repair 
before the Mayor, who would take care for the sending of 
them on board the State's ships in the Downs. The Mayor 
and Jurats replied : " We have done our endeavours to im- 
press the number of seamen required, but some of our 
vessels being abroad and others laid up at home for this 
winter time, few seamen are to be found in this town, and 
those that were, upon suspicion of a prest (the messenger 
that brought the orders coming in the daytime) fled out of 
our Liberties and hid themselves in the Foreign, so that 
though we presently endeavoured their taking and since 
have searched divers houses yet cannot meet with the 
enough to accomplish the number, nor believe the number 
of sixty can be found in town, unless masters themselves 
and others incapable to do service should be added to the 
complement." 2 An application to the Mayor of Tenterden 
to impress seamen who had fled thither from Rye, produced 
eleven men, who, he hoped, " would prove good seamen and 
serviceable to the State." 3 

During the war with Spain the channel was full of 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 220. 

2 Ibid., p. 227. 3 Ibid. 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 279 

privateers from Ostend and Dunkirk. The towns of Hastings 
and Rye sent a joint petition to the Protector in February 
1656, stating that both merchants and poor fishermen were 
daily taken and made prize of, and begging that " whereas 
the maintenance of the fishery of this nation is very con- 
siderable for the nursery and increase of able seamen," some 
measures might be taken for their protection, and also 
that the French be impeded from any further fishing in 
English seas " with their unlawful nets and engines, whereby 
all our choice fish and the breed thereof are almost and will 
be (unless prevented) utterly destroyed." 1 The Sussex 
fishermen themselves do not appear to have been quite 
blameless in this matter of unlawful nets. Desborough and 
Lambert, on behalf of the Council of State, wrote to the 
authorities of the Cinque Ports in 1655 as follows: "We 
are lately given to understand that there is a sort of fisher- 
man inhabiting within the Cinque Ports called trowlers 
and drawers by the water side who by reason of the small- 
ness of the moakes in their nets take up and destroy all 
the young fish which they meet with, to the great prejudice 
of the public. We desire you will forthwith cause public 
notice to be given that no person do henceforth use any 
such unlawful nets." 2 

In response to the Hastings and Rye petition, the Cat, 
a pink, was told off to protect the fishermen. But she her- 
self fell a victim to a frigate with 22 guns and 180 men. 3 
Her captain, Richard Pittock, wrote the following letter 
describing her capture and his own plight to the Commis- 
sioners of the Navy from " Donkerke prison": "These 
lines is to certify your honors that upon the 2Oth day of 
March 1656 I did receive an order in the Downs from 
Capt. Whitehorn, commander in chief then, to ply to the 
westward all the coast along, until I came to Brighthelm- 

1 S. P. Dom., Interreg., cxxiv, 51. 

2 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), P- 224. 
* S. P. Dom., Interreg., cxxvi, 128. 



28o SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

stone, 1 and then to bring up all such fishermen as were to 
fish at the North Foreland this mackerel season ; and ac- 
cording to his order I departed out of the Downs forthwith. 
The wind being westerly I plyed up and gave warning to 
all the fishermen off Hastings, if in case any of them should 
go up, when I should return back from Brighthelmstone, 
with me, I would see them to the North Foreland. And 
the 26th day we plyed to the westward, and betwixt 
Beachy Head and Pevensey 2 we see a sail that stood right 
with us, when we see that he was a Dunkirker; and he 
came up and engaged with us the space of an hour. And 
when he had spoiled and cut asunder all our rigging ropes, 
and shot our sails very much, he then laid us aboard, and 
entered into us, a hundred men or thereabout, which caused 
us to surrender up, having some men hurt, and forced off 
our deck. And now it is the pleasure of the Lords of Dun- 
kirk to release all our men but myself; and for my part 
they keep me a prisoner in Dunkirk until they have received 
as many men of theirs from England as they have cleared 
of ours, the which is in number thirty and six men. And 
myself that remains here in prison is thirty-seven. The said 
Lords of Dunkirk do inform me that they have two captains 
of theirs in York prison, and all their companies, which 
they do desire if your honors be pleased to set their men at 
liberty; then they will ever hereafter set all English men 
at liberty that they have in Flanders." 3 Poor Captain Pit- 
tock was as modest as he was courageous. Captain White- 
horn informed the Admiralty that he had defended the 
pink very bravely until his masts were shot by the board, 
and he was overpowered by the boarding party. He added 
that the poor fishermen were much dismayed at the capture 
of the Cat; and that he had ordered the True Love frigate 
to keep by the Rye and Hastings men, and the Dartmouth 

1 Spelt " Broadhemson " in the original. 

3 Spelt "Pamsey." 3 S. P. Dom., Interreg., cxxvi, 118. 



SUSSEX COAST AND THE DUTCH WAR 281 

to ply to Brighthelmstone l to fetch from thence the fisher- 
men to the North Foreland. 2 

In consequence of the capture of the Cat, two guns were 
mounted for the defence of Hastings. 3 Although its six 
biggest guns had been sent away to Shoreham in 1643, 
Rye still possessed some ordnance, which from a request 
for powder in 1662, appears to have been put to various 
uses. The corporation then petitioned the Duke of York 
in the following terms : " That the town of Rye anciently 
had more great guns mounted than any other of the Ports 
(Dover excepted) which requiring a magazine as well of 
powder as of other ammunition, upon petition to the Lord 
Warden hath been favoured with supplies of powder out of 
the Tower. And whereas the said Town is so much im- 
poverished and decayed that to maintain the carriages of 
the guns with other ammunition necessary is a very great 
charge, and yet it stands alike exposed to the often use of 
them, both for ornament upon festival and other public 
occasions, and for service as well sometimes for the stop of 
vessels which might otherwise steal out of the haven with- 
out payment of tonnage and customs, as for keeping of the 
peace when ships of war of several nations with their prizes 
happened to be together in the harbour, and otherwise 
might quarrel there, contrary to his Majesty's peace, the 
safety of the Town, and the law of nations. May it please 
you therefore to favour us with the procurement of some 
barrels of powder out of his Majesty's store in the Tower." * 

1 Spelt " Brightsemson " in the original ; the name seems to have 
been a stumbling-block to naval officers. 
- S. P. Dom., Interreg., cxxvi, 128. 

3 Hastings MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 362 

4 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), p. 244. 



CHAPTER XVII 

MAJOR-GENERAL GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 

THE Royalist plots of the early years of the Pro- 
tectorate, organized by the Cavalier society known 
as "the Sealed Knot," and culminating in Penruddock's 
foolhardy rising in Wiltshire, seem to have found no great 
encouragement in Sussex. In the general movement which 
was intended to take place, the gentry of Sussex and Surrey 
were counted on to provide 500 horse. 1 But even this 
small force would probably have been found wanting. It 
was one thing for ingenious and enthusiastic conspirators 
from abroad to reckon every country gentleman who had 
shown Royalist sympathies as a supporter of their schemes, 
and another for men who had already lost much of their 
estates to risk the remainder and their lives in taking up 
arms against an established Government. But these pro- 
jects of insurrection, together with continual plots to murder 
the Protector, countenanced, or not discountenanced, by 
Charles and the Royalist leaders abroad, had their effect 
in driving him to resort to measures which could not be 
justified by law. 

The financial necessities of the Government were very 
pressing. They were met by reducing not only the sol- 
diers' pay, but the number of the regular army. As a less 
expensive substitute a new local militia was created. To 
control this force, and for other purposes, England was 
divided into eleven districts, each of which was placed 

1 Clarendon MSS., xlviii, fol. 326. 
282 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 283 

under the command of a Major-General. William Goffe, a 
Sussex man, was made Major-General of Sussex, Hamp- 
shire, and Berkshire. The powers with which he was in- 
vested went far beyond a mere military command; they 
constituted him, in fact, a viceroy with almost unlimited 
powers in his own district. He was instructed to "sup- 
press all tumults, insurrections, rebellion and other unlaw- 
ful assemblies"; he was to see that all Papists and Royalists 
were disarmed; to free highways of robbers; to permit no 
" horse-races, cock-fightings, bear-baitings, or any unlawful 
assemblies"; to send out of the Commonwealth all idlers 
and persons with no visible means of subsistence; to pro- 
mote godliness and virtue, and discountenance all profane- 
ness and ungodliness; to see that the justices put in force 
the laws against drunkenness and blaspheming; to inform 
the Council of any justices found remiss or unfit for their 
trusts. 

Against the Royalists a new code was to be enforced. 
Politicians in all ages have not been slow to grasp the 
advantages of at one blow mulcting their enemies and fill- 
ing their own exchequer. The principle had been adopted 
by the Parliament early in the war. It was now to be 
extended. Royalists who had taken part in any plot 
against the Protector were to be imprisoned or banished, 
their estates being sequestrated for the payment of the 
new militia. Those who appeared "by their words or 
actions to adhere to the interests of the late King, or of 
Charles Stuart his son," were to be imprisoned or sent 
beyond the seas, but allowed to retain their estates. The 
third, the most important class in Sussex, was composed 
of those who, not being active Royalists, had their estates 
sequestrated for delinquency, or had in former times fought 
against the Parliament; these were to pay a "decimation 
tax " of 10 per cent, on their rental from land if it amounted 
to 100 a year, or if possessed of little or no real estate, a 
tax on their personal property. No Royalist was to keep 



284 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

in his house any of the ejected clergy as chaplain or tutor; 
and no such clergyman was to exercise any priestly func- 
tion, or to keep a school, under pain of imprisonment. 1 
The remaining instructions dealt chiefly with moral and 
social order, especially as regards the regulation of inns 
and alehouses. Justices had very wide powers to call in 
and suppress licences where an excessive number were in 
force, and those considered inconvenient and unnecessary. 

Such were the duties which Major-General Goffe under- 
took in Sussex: to defend the State, to raise money, to 
encourage virtue and to discourage vice, vice being held 
to include many pleasures more or less innocent. He 
appears to have exercised his powers with much tact and 
moderation. But nothing could overcome the unpopularity 
of his office. The Royalist opposition was joined not only 
by the roysterers and drunkards, but by that innumerable 
class of good citizens and good fellows who care for the 
enjoyment of life and resent arbitrary interference with it. 
The enforcement of religious and orderly habits by a mili- 
tary authority greatly strengthened the demand for the re- 
establishment of Parliamentary government, and led in the 
end to the restoration of the monarchy, under which alone 
it seemed possible to secure it. 

Goffe's voluminous correspondence 2 with Secretary Thur- 
loe throws some light on the condition of Sussex at the 
time. The Major-Generals were to be assisted in their 
work by a body of Commissioners " for securing the peace 
of the country," who were to be named by the Government 
in each county, and to be concerned chiefly with the pro- 
visions touching the Royalists. One of his first duties was 
to prepare a list of suitable men. He arrived at Lewes at 
the beginning of November 1655, and wrote to Thurloe on 
the 5th: "Mr. John Stapley being in town when I came, 

1 S. P. Dom., Interreg., c and ci. 

Printed in the Thurloe State Papers. The originals are among 
the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 285 

called at my lodgings, and in the intercourse we had, he 
seems very ready to serve in a public employment. I 
have assured some in this town that his brother, Mr. 
Anthony Stapley, is put into the Commission of the Peace, 
which I doubt not you will make good." 1 Two months 
later he added : " Mr. John Stapley was with us at Lewes 
and I am persuaded is very cordially resolved to serve the 
Protector ; he hath said to some of his friends that he will 
venture his life and estate for him." a John and Anthony 
Stapley were the sons of Colonel Anthony Stapley of 
Patcham, member for the county in the Long Parliament 
and of the Council of State, who had recently died. 3 Their 
mother being a sister of George Goring, Earl of Norwich, 
it is possible that some doubts had been expressed as to 
their fidelity to the Protector, which Goffe set himself to 
dispel. 

In his letter of 5th November Goffe had also referred to 
Colonel Morley. " I intend (if the Lord please) to give 
Col. Morley a kind visit this day, his house being within 
two or three miles. I hope such a civility whatever he 
thinks of my business will do no hurt." Since the expul- 
sion of the Long Parliament in 1653 Morley had been 
"almost a malcontent." To the nominated or "Bare- 
bones " Parliament Sussex had contributed three members, 
Anthony Stapley, William Spence,* and Nathaniel Stude- 

1 Thurloe, State Papers, iv, 151. 

2 Ibid., iv, 394. 

3 The year of Anthony Stapley's death has sometimes been incor- 
rectly stated. The Court Rolls of the manor of Preston show that it 
occurred between i?th April 1655 and 8th April 1656. John Stapley, 
his eldest son and heir, paid to the lord, Anthony Shirley, a heriot of 
one gelding in respect of certain freehold lands called Weeke Farm 
[Wick Farm in Hove]. 

4 William Spence, barrister-at-law, purchased Mailing House, 
Lewes, of Thomas Lucas, in 1656. He died without issue in 1671, 
and was succeeded by his brother John, whose son John (by Ruth 
Stapley) married Mary, daughter of Sir John Fagge, Bart., of Wiston, 
by Mary, sister of Colonel Morley. 



286 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

ley, all of them members of the advanced party. 1 To the 
Parliament of 1654 Morley was elected both for the county 
and for Rye; but he seems to have lived quietly at Glynde, 
and busied himself with his duties as Justice of the Peace. 
These were multifarious, with a tendency to increase. The 
Marriage Act of 1653 provided that only marriages solemn- 
ized before a Justice of the Peace would be recognized by 
the State, the main object being to put an end to defective 
registration. Morley was much resorted to for this pur- 
pose. The Glynde Parish Register records the marriages 
before him of parties from twenty-six different parishes, as 
wide apart as Hangleton and Burwash, in the year i655. 2 
The Register book of Preston-cum-Hove records similar 
marriages before Mr. Anthony Shirley of Preston. 3 Fresh 
duties were continually being imposed on the Justices. In 
March 1655 Henry Lawrence, Lord President of the Coun- 
cil, wrote to the Justices of Sussex: "Lately the Virginia 
merchants have complained of their loss owing to the great 
quantities of English tobacco; trade, navigation and cus- 
toms being impaired, and those plantations impoverished. 
You are therefore to execute the Act and not license the 
planting of any tobacco in England. But that persons 
may not suffer loss for want of reasonable warning you are 
to have this resolution published in all places in your 
county where you judge convenient, and in such way that 
no person can pretend ignorance; and such persons are to 
understand that his Highness expects conformity." 4 There 
is a characteristic touch in the last sentence. 

Morley was also active in keeping watch over the traffic 
between the Sussex coast and the Continent. The Council 
had sent an order dated 24th March 1655 to Sir Thomas 

1 Gardiner, Commonwealth and Protectorate, ch. xxviii. 

2 S. A. C., xx, 83. 

3 Numerous other examples are to be found in the volumes of 
the S. A. C. 

4 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., xcv, 71. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 287 

Rivers, Bart., J.P. for Sussex, begging that " diligent watches 
be kept for taking a strict account of all strangers in your 
county and principally near the sea. ... It will suppress 
loose persons and cause some of those who come from 
abroad to kindle fires here to be apprehended." l Morley 
wrote to Thurloe referring to this letter and stated that he 
had given orders to an officer of customs, John Mullet, to 
search diligently in all vessels for letters and papers, es- 
pecially in any vessel which should bring over from France 
one Rose of Lewes, who often went between England and 
France, and was suspected to be a Papist. He had found 
several letters and papers " directed to persons of great 
honour and quality" and enclosed them unopened. He 
had also examined Robert Anderton, gentleman, who had 
gone out of England on 8th March in a bark of Rye, be- 
longing to one Keyes, landed at Dieppe and gone straight 
to Paris; and having made up accounts with some mer- 
chants there had returned from Dieppe in a French shallop 
and landed on the Sussex coast on loth April; but he had 
discovered nothing compromising. 3 

Goffe lost no time in getting to work with his militia 
and preparing his list of Commissioners. On yth November 
he wrote to Thurloe : " I hope that soon I shall have a 
better knowledge of these blades I am to deal with than 
yet I have. They do willingly acknowledge themselves (I 
mean the militia) as a new quickset hedge, that will for a 
while need an old hedge about it, and I hope his highness 
will be so good a husband as not to take away the old one, 
till the new be grown very substantial. The enclosed paper 
contains the names of those I have resolved for the Com- 
missioners. I do see the stress of this business must lie 
upon the middle sort of men. Colonel Morley saith any- 
thing he can assist me in as a justice of the peace he will 
do to the utmost " but from what he said Goffe concluded 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., xcv, 61. 

2 Thurloe, State Papers, iii, 369. 



288 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

that he would not act as a Commissioner himself, and had 
therefore laid aside the thought of putting in his name, as 
likewise those of Mr. Hay and Mr. Fagge; "the one hath 
not lately acted in anything, and the other hath been for 
some time too gracious to disaffected persons, and besides 
will not stir a hair's breadth without Col. Morley." The 
names of the Commissioners were as follows. They repre- 
sent in the main "the middle sort of men"; there are 
significantly few representatives of the great county families 
which had supported the Parliament in the war: 

Colonel Bainbridge, ^ 

Captain Tho. Jenner, j-Captains of the Militia. 
Captain Wm. Freeman,; 
Captain Walter Everden, near Hastings. 
Mr. Nathaniel Studeley, now of Lewes. 
Mr. John Stapley of Patcham. 

Mr. Anthony Shirley of Preston l (" who I hear is a very 
honest gentleman "). 

Mr. Richard Yates of Warnham. 

Major Fenwick. 

Mr. Richard Knowles of Waltham. 

Mr. Thomas Ballard, Mayor of Arundel. 

Colonel Richard Boughton of Chichester. 

Mr. Arthur Betsworth, near Chichester. 

Mr. Richard Manning, Mayor of Chichester. 

Mr. John Poling of Midhurst. 

Captain Edward Madgwick, near Chichester. 

Colonel William Goffe. 2 

It did not take Goflfe long to discover that the proceeds 

1 The Shirleys of Preston were a younger branch of the Shirleys of 
Wiston. Thomas Shirley, the last of the Shirleys of Wiston, was an 
adherent of the Royalist cause, and was knighted by Charles I at 
Oxford in 1645. The estate had been much encumbered by his father, 
and about this time he was compelled to sell it. The purchaser was 
Colonel Fagge. 

2 Thurloe, State Papers, iv, 161. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 289 

of the decimation tax would be quite insufficient to meet 
the expenses of the militia. By the end of January he was 
expected to find six months' pay for troops levied the 
previous June. On 2nd February he wrote to Thurloe: 
" the truth is the money raised in this association will not 
amount to above three months' pay; for though I am not 
prepared to give an exact account, yet I do clearly find 
that Sussex will not amount to above .1,500 per annum, 
which is but just half as much as will pay the troops." l 
As a measure of economy it was decided to reduce the 
number of men in each troop from 100 to 80. On I9th 
March Goffe reduced the troops in Sussex, paying them 
in full for the first half, and was met with a demand for 
payment for another three months as well. He was told by 
the officer in command that " he could not hire servants at 
such a rate, to hire them for a year and put them off at 
three quarters' end with half a year's pay." So angry were 
the soldiers that they at first refused to touch the money, 
crying out that they would have all or none. It was only 
on Goffe's representation that the third quarter was not yet 
at an end that they quieted down. Goffe owned to Thurloe 
that their grumbling was not unreasonable, as many had 
spent more than they demanded in furnishing themselves 
with horse and arms. 2 To avoid such personal collisions 
between the Major-Generals and their militia, the responsi- 
bility for the payment of the men was transferred on nth 
April to the Army Committee of the Council, which had 
previously provided for the pay of the regular forces. 3 

His increasing financial difficulties induced the Protector 
at last to consent to the summoning of a new Parliament. 
The election was held in the summer of 1656. The un- 
popularity of the Major-Generals seems to have more than 
counterbalanced any pressure they could bring to bear on 

1 Thurloe, State Papers, iv, 497. 2 Ibid., iv, 642. 

3 Council Order Book, Interreg., i, 77, P- 4i 5 Gardiner's Common- 
wealth and Protectorate, ch. xlix. 

U 



290 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the electors. Throughout the eastern and southern counties, 
which had been the main support of the Parliament in its 
struggle with the King, the candidates hostile to the Gov- 
ernment that were returned were very numerous. The 
Protector's Council met this by the characteristically arbi- 
trary method of excluding all to whom it did not give a 
certificate of approval. " Without this certificate no one was 
allowed to enter the House. Three colonels, backed by a 
guard of soldiers, kept the door, and examined the tickets." l 
Of nine members returned for the county of Sussex five 
were so excluded. 

Herbert Morley wrote to Sir John Trevor, member for 
Arundel, whose daughter Morley's only son had married, 
that he and his brother-in-law, Colonel Fagge, would re- 
main peaceably at their own seats, and requested him to 
say so much if he found them suspected ; and concluded 
his letter by saying that he " could not enlarge at present, 
having been crazy this five weeks ; which is now turned to 
a terrible fit of the gout, 2 accompanied with a feverish dis- 
temper." 3 

Justices of the Peace and others in authority were much 
vexed at this time by the extravagant and irritating pro- 
ceedings of the new sect of Quakers. It is difficult to re- 
cognize in the conduct of some of these fanatics any resem- 
blance to the dignified and orderly life of their successors, 
which secured for them the confidence of their fellow 
citizens, and made them pre-eminently the bankers of the 
community. It bore some likeness to that of the more law- 
less advocates of " Women's Rights " in our own day. 

1 Firth, Last Years of the Protectorate, i, 12. 

* A broadsheet advertisement of this very year, preserved in the 
British Museum, offers a cure for the gout in singularly modern terms : 
" A foreigner, Peter Francesse, lately arrived from Persia, undertakes 
that the use of his preparation, for outward application only, will cure 
gout, sciatica and other diseases in a week." Thomason Tracts, press- 
mark 669, f. 20 (41). 

3 Noble's Regicides, ii, 89. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 291 

Quakers were in the habit of entering churches in time of 
divine service, and railing at the ministers " as hirelings, 
deceivers and false prophets," or exclaiming to the preacher, 
"Come down, thou deceiver, thou hireling, thou dog!" 1 
Such brawling, and refusal to pay tithes, brought them 
into conflict with the justices, and in Court irritation 
against them was increased by their refusal to swear, or to 
show respect in such matters as the removal of hats. In 
consequence they were frequently treated with great se- 
verity and even cruelty. As one of their own writers has 
said : " It could not be expected that a testimony levelled 
both against the darling Vices of the Laity, and the forced 
Maintenance of the Clergy ', should meet with any other than 
an unkind reception. The messengers of it were enter- 
tained with Scorn and Derision, with Beatings, Buffetings, 
Stonings, Pinchings, Kickings, Dirtings, Pumpings, and all 
manner of Abuses from the rude and ungovernable Rabble ; 
and from the Magistrates, who should have been their De- 
fenders, they met with Spoiling of Goods, Stockings, Whip- 
pings, Imprisonments, and Banishments, and even Death 
itself."* 

The " Blessed Testimony and Joyful Tidings of Salva- 
tion " were first preached in Sussex in March 1655 by John 
Slee, Thomas Lawson, and Thomas Lawcock, who " de- 
clared the truth " in open market at Horsham ; " this was 
to the great admiration of some, yet the most part reviled 
and some stoned them." They then repaired to the house 
of one Bryan Wilkason at Nuthurst, who was the first that 
" gave entrance as well to their persons as to their testi- 
mony." 3 Meetings were next held at Ifield, at the house of 
Richard Bonwick, a weaver, and at Twineham at Hum- 
phrey Killingbeck's. At Southover, Thomas Robinson 
" declared the truth to the convincement of Ambrose Gallo- 

' Reliquiae Baxterianae, 77, 116; Gardiner, Commonwealth and 
Protectorate, ch. xxxviii. 
1 Joseph Bene, quoted S. A. C., xvi, 66. Ibid., 70. 



292 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

way l and Elizabeth his wife, and Stephen Eager." George 
Fox himself shortly afterwards came to Sussex, to the 
house of Bryan Wilkason, where they met Thomas Law- 
cock, who " being moved to go into the Steeple-house at 
Horsham, was for the same committed to Horsham Gaol 
on the 24th day of the 4th Mo: 1655 by Edward Michell 
and George Hussy, called Justices, where he remained 
about a Quarter of a Year." * 

Fox visited I field where a great meeting was held, 
" which was the first meeting that was Gathered in this 
County to Sitt Downe together in Silence to wait upon the 
Lord " ; and subsequently Steyning, Lewes, and Warbleton, 
with the result that a large number of converts were 
obtained. 

The actual offences for which Quakers were committed 
to prison were generally in themselves trivial enough, how- 
ever irritating and provocative of disorder. It was natural 
that the Government should take a more lenient view of 
them than the Justices, charged with the maintenance of 
order on the spot. In January 1657 an order was made by 
the Council of State for the release of Thomas Patching, 
Bryan Wilkason, John Fursby, Ninian Brockett, Nicholas 
Rickman and his wife, who had been lying in Horsham 
gaol for various periods up to twenty-four weeks, on the 
grounds (i) that the evidence did not prove any crime: 
(2) that the committals were not in due form : (3) that the 
defendants had not been brought to trial in due course of 
law : (4) that the whole process was for matter of opinion in 
worship. 3 Later in the same year a memorandum was sent 
by Henry Lawrence, President of the Council of State, to 
the Justices of the Peace in Sussex and other counties. For 
the spirit of charity, tolerance, and good sense which it 
breathes it is perhaps almost worthy to be placed beside 
Trajan's letter to Pliny on the treatment of the Christians. 

1 A Lewes trader of good position. 2 S. A. C., xvi, 71. 

3 S. P. Dom., Interreg., cliii, 11-16. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 293 

" His Highness and the Council have received several ad- 
dresses on behalf of Quakers imprisoned for not finding 
sureties for good behaviour. Some have lain long in prison, 
and are not likely to get out by conformity. Though His 
Highness and the Council are far from countenancing their 
mistaken principles or practices, especially in disturbing 
godly ministers and affronting magistrates, yet as they 
mostly proceed rather from a spirit of error than a malicious 
opposition to authority, they are to be pitied and dealt 
with as persons under a strong delusion, who will rather 
suffer and perish than do anything contrary to their 
ungrounded and corrupt delusions. Therefore His High- 
ness and the Council recommend them to your prudence, 
to discharge such as are in prison in your county (though 
discountenancing their miscarriages) so that their lives may 
be preserved, divers having died in prison. From tender- 
ness to them you are, by causing their hats to be pulled off, 
to prevent their running into contempt by the not giving 
respect to magistrates, as those whose miscarriages arise 
from defect of understanding should not be treated too 
severely." l 

Since the establishment of the Protectorate efforts had 
been made to put "the public ministry," as Cromwell 
termed the National Church, on a more satisfactory foot- 
ing. The Protector had refused to interfere with private 
patronage, or to abolish tithes, until some other means of 
maintenance for the clergy had been devised. This was 
entirely in accordance with his dislike to further change in 
such matters than were necessary to secure efficiency. By 
an ordinance issued in 1654 he appointed thirty-eight com- 
missioners, known as " triers," to try the fitness of persons 
presented to livings. Whether they were Presbyterians or 
Independents or Baptists was a matter of indifference; 
" men who believe in Jesus Christ men who believe the 

1 S. P. Dom., Interreg., clvii. 



294 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

remission of sins through the blood of Christ, and free 
justification by the blood of Christ . . . Whoever hath this 
faith, let his form be what it will; he walking peaceably, 
without prejudice to others under other forms." 1 Another 
ordinance provided a body of Commissioners in each 
county with powers to eject incompetent or scandalous 
ministers and schoolmasters. It is admitted that both triers 
and ejectors did their duty honestly and well. 2 Great efforts 
were made throughout the period to provide fitting main- 
tenance for ministers, whose stipends were often inadequate. 
The proceedings of the Committee for Compounding afford 
many instances of Royalists who were lay rectors being 
compelled to increase the allowance to the officiating min- 
ister as part of their scheme of composition. In the case of 
Sir Edward Alford of Offington, Sussex, the inhabitants 
of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, represented that although 
the profits of the rectory were ;6oo a year, and their town 
a great market town, with 2,000 communicants, their min- 
ister (who " officiated on lecture days as well as Sundays ") 
had only ^40 a year; and petitioned for an increase to 
100. It appears that the living was increased to 80 and 
afterwards to 90 a year. 3 In the case of John Lewknor of 
West Dean, Ellis Smyth petitioned on behalf of the in- 
habitants of Chilgrove, West Dean, Binderton, Singleton, 
Charlton, East Dean, and Didling. He represented that 
there had been but little preaching in those parishes and 
villages for sixty years by reason of the smallness of the 
vicarages, the tithes belonging to the Dean and Chapter of 
Chichester, who had demised them to the predecessors of 
John Lewknor for 99 years, of which about 30 years were 
to run. The value of the tithes was at least 500 a year, 
and the County Committee, seeing the extreme want of a 

1 Carlyle, Cromwell, speech vi. 

2 See the admission of the Rev. Giles Moore to the rectory of 
Horsted Keynes, S. A. C., i, 65. 

3 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1009, 1646-1653. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 295 

preacher, had granted for two years past to Mr. Daniel 
Curry, a godly and painful preacher of God's word, who was 
plundered of all his estate by the enemy, 80 per annum 
for his maintenance that he might preach in those parishes 
in the most convenient place; but he had returned to the 
western part, the place of his former abode. And as the 
inhabitants themselves could raise nothing, those villages 
having been extremely plundered by the King's forces, and 
being utterly destitute of any to preach or teach amongst 
them, although they contained about 500 families, the pe- 
titioner prayed that out of the estate of John Lewknor a 
competent maintenance might be allowed for an able and 
competent preacher. 1 From the same estate 70 a year 
was ordered to be settled on the church of East Grinstead. 2 
John Ashburnham was ordered to pay 20 to Mr. Ro- 
botham, minister of Rumboldswyke, 20 to Mr. Wesby oi 
Appledram, 20 to Mr. Abbot of Midhurst, 10 to Mr. 
Bothell of Merston, and $ to Mr. Welborne of Funting- 
ton ; and to settle go out of certain tithes to other min- 
isters named. Also to settle 60 out of the tithes of Oving 
upon such ministers as the County Committee should ap- 
point. 3 No less than 378 such grants are recorded between 
6th October 1652 and 4th September 1655.* 

From these and other sources a considerable number of 
small livings were augmented, especially between 1656 and 
1658.' William Speed, who had succeeded John Corbett as 
minister at Chichester, was granted .80 in addition to a 
former sum of .90 ; e and the vicarage of Rye received an 
increase of 70.'' With the same object many adjacent 
livings were united. 8 Patching was joined to Clapham, the 
parishioners of the latter certifying that their minister, 

1 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 1216, undated, but probably 1651. 

2 Ibid. 3 /*/., 1863. 

4 Ibid., v, xxvi. 5 See Viet. Hist. Sussex, ii, 37. 

6 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., cxxxi, 52. 7 Ibid., clvii, 85. 

8 Viet. Hist. Sussex, loc. cit. 



296 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Samuel Wilmer, had been " zealous in gathering the scat- 
tered saints into one body to enjoy gospel ordinances," but 
was overwhelmed with expense. The parishes of St. Peter- 
the-Less, St. Pancras, and St. Martin were united with St. 
Andrew's, Chichester, that of Earnley with East Witter- 
ing, and that of Climping with Ford ; l Ovingdean was 
joined to Brighton, 2 Tortington to Arundel, 3 and Tangmere 
to Boxgrove. 4 

The loyalty of young John Stapley and his brother 
Anthony to the Commonwealth, of which their father had 
been so conspicuous a pillar, was not long proof against 
the pressure of family and social influence. Not only had 
his mother been a sister of George Goring, Earl of Norwich 
(she died in 1637), but he had himself married a daughter 
of Sir Herbert Springate of Broyle Place, by his wife 
Barbara, daughter of Sir William Campion. At old Lady 
Campion's house in London John Stapley made the ac- 
quaintance of Dr. Hewitt, an ex-chaplain of Charles I, who 
had been permitted to hold the living of " Gregory's near 
Paul's." Hewitt was a preacher of great eloquence; 
" doctor mellifluus, doctor altivolans, et doctor inexhausti- 
bilis," a fervid admirer termed him. He employed his 
influence in the interest of Charles II, collected money for 
distressed Cavaliers, and in the winter of 1657-8 was busy 
hatching a plot. Charles was to land, either in Sussex or 
on the east coast, with a force of 8,000 men, under the 
command of Marsin; his landing to be the signal for a 
general rising, Hewitt's own business being with the City 
of London. But "the doctor," wrote Corker the Spy to 
Morland, Thurloe's assistant, "is rather a Tully than a 
Catiline, and hath been more prevalent with his tongue 
than his brains." 5 

Hewitt had no great difficulty in winning over John 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., cxxx, 5. 2 Ibid., cliv, 12. 

3 Ibid., clvi, 105. 4 Ibid.) clxxx, 163. 

6 Thurloe, State Papers, i, 718. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 297 

Stapley to his side. Stapley seemed a valuable recruit; he 
was held a moderate man ; " many would rise with him 
who would not follow the Cavaliers." Among the Royalists 
he was looked up to as the most influential man in the 
county of Sussex. 1 Hewitt played on his fears, represent- 
ing that if he did not assist at the restoration of Charles II 
he was a lost man, his father having been so prominent on 
the other side; and on his ambition, by offering him a 
commission, made out to " Sir John Stapley, Baronet," for 
raising a regiment of five hundred horse, with supreme 
command in Sussex. 

Armed with his commission, Stapley proceeded to Sussex, 
and sounded some of his friends. His brother Anthony 
readily joined the plot. Captain Henry Mallory was offered 
a commission. Stapley appointed a rendezvous with George 
Hutchinson of Cuckfield "in a great furzy field near 
Brighthempstead," and pressed him to be Major in his 
regiment. Stapley said he had two hundred arms, and 
had kept fourteen horses in his stable all that winter. Ten 
or fifteen days later, Stapley, Mallory, and Hutchinson 
met at Hangleton races. Stapley said he had been in 
London and seen Cromwell, who " gave him a severe look 
at first, but that they parted on good terms." 

Mr. Thomas Woodcock of Newtimber met Stapley 
hunting, and they held some discourse concerning the 
raising of forces in Sussex. " It was but very little, because 
we were at that time in sport and had not time to speak of 
it" Subsequently at Patcham, in his " own house in his 
chamber," Stapley offered Woodcock a commission. 
Woodcock said he had no interest in the county to raise 
men, but would venture his own person in the service. 

Anthony Stapley, who resided at Lewes, was also active. 
William Dyke of Frant subsequently deposed that towards 

1 Information of Henry Mallory, taken at Preston, I4th April. 
This and other depositions in this matter are printed in Thurloe, 
vol. vii. 



298 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the end of March, being in Clifford's Inn, he walked with 
Captain Anthony Stapley, who told him there was a design 
for Charles Stuart coming to England, and proposed to him 
that he should be of his party. Dyke replied that he did 
not believe he could come in, but Stapley said that he knew 
there was a great party for him. About a fortnight later 
Stapley came to his home at Frant and stayed a few days. 
He said the landing would shortly take place, and asked 
what horses and arms Dyke had. Dyke replied, two geld- 
ings and no arms. They went together to Tonbridge and 
stayed to dine there, and Stapley sent a messenger to Mr. 
Rivers, who lived near, asking him to come over to them. 
When Rivers came, Stapley took notice of the horse he 
rode, and told Dyke he intended it for a charging horse in 
the intended insurrection. Rivers asked 30 for the horse, 
and Stapley said if he would take his note of hand he 
would give it. Stapley then told Rivers that Charles Stuart 
was shortly to land, and Rivers agreed with Dyke that his 
attempt would be vain. 

While the Stapley brothers were pursuing this very in- 
effectual course Woodcock spoke of John Stapley's " im- 
becility in martial affairs " Thurloe's spies were keeping 
him informed as to the progress of the plot. Chief among 
these was a clergyman named Francis Corker, formerly 
Vicar of Bradford, who pretended to be a devoted Royalist, 
and was admitted to the counsels of the party. At the 
Restoration he endeavoured to curry favour by asserting 
that he had often persuaded Thurloe to liberate Royalist 
prisoners. He then asserted that he had had little associa- 
tion with Stapley, but had received money from him, part 
of which he had lent to distressed Cavaliers. Corker wrote 
to Thurloe that he had seen the commissions in blank 
directed to several counties. There were six commissions 
for Sussex, to be delivered to Mr. Stapley, and issued by 
him to whom he pleased. Mr. Stapley was absolutely 
resolved not to act at all if either Colonel Morley or Lord 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 299 

Dacre were put over him. 1 But he was willing to act under 
Sir Humphrey Bennet, 2 who had "maintained two hundred 
horse dispersed in Sussex this long time." Corker stated 
that officers were to be sent from London to Mr. Stapley 
when things were ready, " because he complains that Sussex 
is a country so little inured to war that it doth not afford 
them." 3 He also sent a list of the " active Cavaliers " in 
Sussex: Mr. John Stapley, Mr. Thomas Woodcock et 
fratres, Mr. Goring, Mr. Mallory, Mr. Nic. Gildridge, Mr. 
Thos. Foster, Mr. Nutt, Mr. Selwin, junior, Mr. Bishop, 
Mr. Sackvile, Mr. Will Markwick, Mr. Graves, Mr. Ash- 
burnham, and Messrs. Car, Naylor, Hall, and Milnes, 
clergymen. 4 

John Stapley's proceedings were cut short about the end 
of March by a summons from Cromwell to attend him at 
Whitehall. In the presence of the Protector he at first 
denied all knowledge of the plot, but finding how much 
was known, and " cajoled by promises and threats," 5 he 
broke down and confessed all. He then wrote the following 
abject letter: 

" May it please your Highness, 

" Your misled and unadvised and now distressed 
supplicant doth take the boldness to present his troubled 
and despicable estate, that he is now brought into, through 
the deceit and collusion of your and his enemies, that sur- 
prised him, and through the delusion infatuated his judg- 
ment and reason, that never was inclined to a compliance 
with yours, this nation's and his father's enemies; the 
consideration of which hath begot a sense of his folly which 
doth oppress me much; the thoughts of my enemies re- 
joicing; the trouble of my friends; and above all to be 

1 There is no evidence whatever that either had any knowledge of 
the plot. 

* Of Shalden, Hants. 3 Thurloe, State Papers, i, 717. 

4 Ibid., 710. 5 Clarendon. 



300 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

excluded from your Highness' favour; but confessing and 
forsaking with God persons find favour; and I believe your 
Highness is guided by the influence of his spirit, that 1 so 
doing from the sincerity and simplicity of soul, I trust 
through your Highness' clemency to find the same. And 
for the future, I do promise by the assistance of the Almighty, 
I will not only live peaceably, but with the utmost of my 
endeavours stand by your Highness with life and fortune, 
to preserve your Highness' person, interest and dignity; 
and if ever Charles Stuart should in my days, make any 
attempt against your present government, I will personally 
appear against him, though it be but in the capacity of a 
private trooper, if I may not be intrusted by your Highness, 
or your successors, with better preferment. 

" My lord, I do humbly beg your pardon, that I did not 
at first declare to your Highness the whole business that I 
was concerned in. I was dashed at your presence, and 
astonished at the consideration of my sin ; for which I have 
asked pardon of God, and do ask it of you. My lord, it is 
the glory of a prince to pass by an offence. I humbly beg 
pardon for this presumption, resolving to continue as I am, 
and ever shall be, 

" Your Highness' 
" Devoted and faithful servant till death, 

" J. STAPLEY." l 

The authorities were busy at this time searching Sussex 
houses for incriminating papers. On Good Friday a 
detachment of dragoons, under the command of Lieut. 
Hopkins, visited Eastbourne Place, the house of Mr. William 
Wilson. The search had scarcely commenced when Mrs. 
Wilson (her husband being confined by serious illness to 
his bed) ordered a large pie filled with wheatears to be 
placed before them. " The officer, it being quite a novelty 

1 Noble's Regicides, ii, 244. 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 301 

to him, was equally amazed and delighted, and merrily 
insisted that all his military companions should taste of the 
rare repast, which they did with much jollity, going away 
much better pleased with their entertainment than the 
family were with their guests. Whilst they were feasting, 
Mrs. Wilson (such is her own account of the transaction) 
went up to her husband, then sick in bed, who desired her 
to bring him a file of letters out of his closet. He took off 
one or more, and ordered her instantly to burn them, and 
to stir the ashes, and then to call up the officer; which 
his wife accordingly did. No sooner was the officer come 
than he took hold of the file from which the burnt letter 
had just been taken, looked at the papers, and finding 
nothing, very complaisantly wished Mrs. Wilson joy that 
he had found nothing according to his expectations; 'for 
had I,' says the officer, ' found anything according to the 
information given in against him, my orders were to have 
taken him away.' " 1 

Stapley disclosed the names of all his associates and the 
details of the plot as far as he was cognisant of it. His 
brother Anthony also turned informer, and did not scruple 
to bear witness against his own brother. Numerous arrests 
took place, but the conspirators still planned a rising in 
the City of London. Active among them was " an ancient 
man in grey clothes," who sometimes called himself Carle- 
ton, sometimes Roberts: 2 this was Guy Carleton, an ex- 
fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, and a relative of George 
Carleton, Bishop of Chichester, 1619-1628, and his son 
Henry Carleton of Guyson's, Fairlight, a Captain of Horse 
in the Parliamentary army, and one of the Sequestrators 
for the County of Sussex. 3 At the Restoration Guy Carle- 
ton was appointed Dean of Carlisle, and subsequently 
Bishop of Chichester. The City rising fixed for i$th May 

1 Wilson MSS., S. A. C., xi, 28. 

2 Thurloe, State Papers, vii, 147. 

3 Lower's Worthies, p. 93. 



302 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

proved abortive, and a few days later the conspirators who 
had been arrested were brought to trial before a Court 
specially appointed for the purpose. Dr. Hewitt and Sir 
Henry Slingsby, a gentleman of Yorkshire, who had en- 
deavoured to persuade some officers of the garrison to 
betray Hull to Charles II, were found guilty and executed. 
Against John Mordaunt, son of the Earl of Peterborough, 
who had had control of the Surrey branch of the plot, the 
chief Witnesses were John Stapley and Henry Mallory, 
who was to attest Mordaunt's efforts to arrange for the 
joint action of the Cavaliers of Surrey and Sussex. But the 
night before Mordaunt's trial Mallory fled, instigated and 
assisted by Mrs. Mordaunt, and the evidence of Stapley 
was held insufficient, 1 with the result that Mordaunt was 
acquitted. Mallory was captured on 5th June, and con- 
demned to death but reprieved and imprisoned. Captain 
Thomas Woodcock was arraigned, and John Stapley gave 
evidence against him, but he was acquitted. The case 
against Sir Humphrey Bennet was dropped. John and 
Anthony Stapley were pardoned, partly for the value of 
their information, partly, it may be, from respect for their 
father's memory. 2 

John Stapley would seem to have been anxious to ex- 
press his loyalty to the Commonwealth not only by words 
but by deeds. The valuable living of Rotherfield, of which 
he was patron, becoming vacant at this time, he made over 
the presentation to William Cawley, who presented his son 
John. 3 At the Restoration, John Cawley was admitted to 
holy orders in the Church of England by Bishop King at 

1 Thurloe, State Papers, vii, 88, 101. 

2 For a full account of this plot and trial see Firth's Last Years of 
the Protectorate, ch. xii. See also State Trials, v, 871, 883, 907. 

3 6th July 1658. Presentation by Wm. Cawley the younger, of 
Chichester, Esq. (in his gift by virtue of a guift and graunt of John 
Stapley of Patcham, Esq., the Patron) of John Cawley, Clerke to the 
Rectory of Rotherfield, void by the resignation of Paul Durand 
(Lambeth MSS., No. 946, m. 35). 



MAJOR-GEN. GOFFE AND JOHN STAPLEY 303 

Chichester. He subsequently became Archdeacon of 
Lincoln. 1 

The Marquis of Ormonde had been in London during 
the winter on business connected with the proposed land- 
ing of Charles, and by his discretion, and the perfection of 
his disguise had escaped the vigilance of Thurloe's police. 
He declined to have anything to do with Hewitt's attempt 
to organize a rising in the City of London, and left Eng- 
land about the end of February. He was assisted to escape 
from the Sussex coast by Mr. Sackville Graves, a Justice 
of the Peace, of West Firle. 2 The Government, it was said, 
seized the ship which lay next to Ormonde's, but missed 
that which actually carried him. 3 

1 S. A. C., xxxiii, 270; xxxiv, 33. 

2 "Aegre dilapsus est Ormondiae Marchio, scapham in Sussexia 
Sackvilli Gravesii opera conscendens " (Bate's Elenchus Motuum, 
Lond., 1663, ii, 397). 

3 Firth, Protectorate, ii, 65. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 

THE Lord Protector died on 3rd September 1658, and 
was buried with a pomp which belied Milton's saying 
that the trappings of a monarchy will set up a common- 
wealth. John Evelyn writes of it in his diary: "Oct. 22. 
Saw the superb funeral of the Protector. He was carried 
from Somerset House in a velvet bed of state drawn by six 
horses, housed with the same; the pall held by his new 
lords ; Oliver lying in effigy in royal robes, and crowned 
with a crown, sceptre and globe, like a king. The pendants 
and guidons were carried by the officers of the army ; the 
imperial banners, achievements, etc., by the heralds in their 
coats; a rich caparisoned horse, embroidered all over with 
gold ; a knight of honour armed cap-a-pie, and after all, 
his guards, soldiers and innumerable mourners. In this 
equipage they proceeded to Westminster; but it was the 
joyfullest funeral I ever saw, for there were none that cried 
but dogs, which the soldiers hooted away with a barbarous 
noise, drinking and taking tobacco in the streets as they 
went." 1 

Oliver's son, Richard, now thirty-three years of age, 
succeeded him without any disturbance, and was recog- 
nized as Protector both at home and abroad. But his 
reign was foredoomed to failure. Amiable and virtuous, 
but of no uncommon abilities, he lacked that power over 
the army which alone could make or unmake him, that 

1 Evelyn's Memoirs, London, 1827, ii, 138. 
304 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 305 

his father, as the greatest captain of the age, had wielded. 
Conscious of his impotence to control the contending fac- 
tions he retired into private life in the following May. 
" Tumble-down Dick " long figured on the sign-boards of 
village inns, and perhaps still survives. 

Colonel Morley had lived in seclusion at Glynde since 
the establishment of the Protectorate, but to Richard Crom- 
well's Parliament, which met in January 1659, he was re- 
turned both for Sussex and for Lewes. His brother-in-law, 
John Fagge, was also returned for Sussex and for Bramber. 
Both chose to sit for the county. Among other members 
elected in Sussex were H. Pelham and W. Cawley for 
Chichester, William Freeman and H. Chowne for Horsham, 
W. Yaldwyn for Midhurst, Sir John Trevor and Anthony 
Shirley for Steyning. 

Morley at once began to fill an active part in affairs ; the 
day after he took his seat he protested against persons 
known to be Royalists being accepted as members of the 
House: " You have," he said, " vipers in your bowels, divers 
delinquents. I have taken an oath to be true and faithful 
to his Highness and also to the liberties of the people. If 
I admit Cavaliers to sit here, I break my oath in both." l 
On the question of excluding Mr. Jones, M.P. for Brecon, 
for this cause, he said : " I would have not only his dis- 
charge, but his crime entered upon your books." 2 On the 
debate of i8th February, with reference to the putting of 
bounds upon the arbitrary powers of the Protector, and re- 
straints upon the revived House of Lords, he spoke strongly 
in favour of the authority of the Commons: "I see this 
bounding is a tender point. We are loth to come to it. 
We are now putting a negative upon ourselves, instead of 
bounding the chief magistrate, and now are setting up 
another house. So that when both those are set up, we 
shall have a negative upon neither." 3 Of the war with 

1 Burton's Diary, London, 1828, iii, 237. 

2 Ibid., 241. 3 Ibid,, 339. 

X 



306 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Holland he said : " My heart has bled for the blood already 
spilt, seeing how we were mistaken in what we fought for. 
I am against a war, unless upon clear grounds. . . . The 
Council has made a dishonourable peace and a worse war." 1 
He expressed his enmity to military domination thus: 
" You have taken away the Major-Generals out of the field 
and from exercising their power in the country, and you 
are now making of them Major-Generals in Parliament; 
they are most of them military men, that have forced Par- 
liaments before, and if you make them part of your Con- 
stitution, they will force your resolutions." a 

In April this Parliament came to an abrupt end. The 
generals, headed by Fleetwood and Desborough, forced 
Richard Cromwell to agree to its dissolution, locked the 
doors and set a guard in the Court of Requests to turn back 
obstinate members. 3 The army was once more supreme, 
but the officers shrank from collecting taxes on their own 
authority, and after some negotiation with the republicans, 
agreed to restore the remnant of the Long Parliament, and 
to set up once more a Commonwealth without a Protector 
or a House of Lords. 

The fall of the House of Cromwell raised afresh the 
hopes of the partisans of the House of Stuart. The weary 
round of revolution and military violence gave little pros- 
pect of settled order, or relief from burdensome taxation. 
All over England Royalist plots were formed; but the 
sources of information on which Cromwell had relied were 
still available for the service of the Parliament. How great 
the emergency was considered may be gathered from the 
activity of the new Council of State, to which Herbert 
Morley had been elected on I4th May. 4 He was also 
appointed an Admiralty Commissioner, and in that capacity 
was energetic in procuring seamen in his own county for 

1 Burton's Diary, London, 1828, iii, 478. 

2 Goddard MS., pp. 271-2. 3 Clarke Papers, iii, 191-3. 
4 Commons' Journals, vii, 654. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 307 

the fleet. On 2nd July Captain Ambrose Smith wrote to 
him from Portsmouth: "here are 40 volunteers on board, 
and 10 more ready, but I have been at great charge in 
raising and conducting many of them from Brathhampston l 
and Shoreham, and other parts of the country; most of 
them are very able men, and I doubt not but speedily to 
fill up the number of 60 men without impressing any, and 
therefore desire you will move the Commissioners for 
conduct money, which the officers say here is \\d. a 
mile." 2 

In view of the threatened insurrection, 2,000 troops were 
ordered to Arundel and Chichester on 9th July, 3 and 
Thomas Sowton and Major Clarke were commissioned to 
raise a company at each of those places.* Colonel Gibbons 
was ordered to march from Rye to Tunbridge, where a 
rising was expected about 1st August. 5 On 3ist July 
Colonel Fagge was appointed to command the Sussex militia 
troop, formerly under Captain Freeman, and the whole 
militia forces of the county were placed under his charge. 
On the same day President Whitelock wrote to Captain 
Bremen, commanding at Chichester: "the Council hears 
that the enemy intends attempting Chichester to-morrow 
morning, and desires your utmost endeavours to prevent it. 
Colonel Fagge is bringing you reinforcements. Capt. 
Elsmore is concerned in this design, and was apprehended 
with horses and arms, defensive and offensive, and colours 
in his pockets, and having liberty on his parole to attend 
Council, he broke his word and is escaped ; you are to try 
to hear of him and take him, and send him in safe cus- 
tody." 8 These measures were sufficient to prevent an 
outbreak, but the danger continued. In Cheshire the Par- 
liament was less successful in suppressing revolt Sir 
George Booth and the Earl of Derby raised their standard 
at Warrington, gathered some 5,000 men, and seized 

1 Brighthelmstone. - Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., cciii, 55. 

3 Ibid., 62. ' Ibid., 91. 5 Ibid., 92. 8 Ibid. 



308 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

Chester. They made no mention of Charles, but declared 
themselves for a free parliament, and government according 
to law. 

Active watch was kept in the Channel to prevent a 
landing from abroad. Admiral Lawson sent from the 
Downs the Arcadia, Lily, and Swallow to ply between 
Beachy and Chichester, and ordered them to search all 
vessels passing that way for persons suspected to be 
enemies to the Commonwealth, " in regard he has intelli- 
gence that Charles Stuart intends to make some part of 
that coast." 1 There seems to have been some such design. 
Whitelock informed Fagge on nth August that Colonel 
Culpepper, of Kent, had lately been in Brighthelmstone 
conversing with persons living near there, who were formerly 
engaged in a like plot ; and instructed him to take especial 
care of the safety of those parts, to inquire into Culpepper's 
doings, and his companions, to find out with whom he was 
tampering, and to secure all suspected persons. 2 Fagge 
made many prisoners, among them Lord Petre, concerning 
whom the Council " received such satisfaction from various 
well-tried friends," that Fagge was ordered to liberate him 
" if he will pass his honour to live peaceably, and not abet 
anything to the prejudice of Parliament." * 

Cowdray House was once more a subject of anxiety, and 
Fagge was ordered to send a party to garrison it; and 
arms, powder, and shot were hurried to Lewes for the use 
of Colonel Gibbons' foot company. Mr. Sackville Graves 4 
was seized with his horses and arms, and his papers 
examined; but he was shortly released by order of the 
Council, on giving security for peaceable conduct. 5 Bram- 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., Navy Papers, p. 460. 

2 Ibid., cciv, 7. 3 Ibid. 

4 It is possible that his assistance to the Marquis of Ormonde in 
the previous year had become known to the authorities, and that he 
was therefore a suspected person. 

5 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., cciv, 7, 12. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 309 

bletye House, the residence of Sir Henry Compton, was 
searched for the Earl of Northampton, suspected of high 
treason in corresponding with Sir George Booth and other 
enemies. 1 Edmund Lane was removed from public em- 
ployment in the city of Chichester for scandalous words 
spoken against the Parliament. 2 

Meantime Lambert, with a large force, was marching 
against the insurgents in Cheshire. On igih August he 
attacked them near Warrington, and dispersed them with 
little loss. Booth was captured and lodged in the Tower. 
The insurrection had failed. 

The Parliament was now as desirous of disbanding 
its extemporized forces as it had been anxious to raise 
them. Colonel Fagge was ordered, if possible, to pay off 
some of his bands, to secure their arms and magazines, 
and to demolish effectually the walls of Chichester and 
Arundel. 3 

Colonel Downes, now a member of the Council of State, 
was requested to write to the officers of the company of 
foot raised by Major Clarke at Chichester, thanking them 
for their services, and desiring their readiness to serve 
again if occasion should require.* A careful watch was still 
kept on the coast. At Rye the Mayor was ordered to set 
a town guard, and the companies to be in readiness for any 
emergency. 5 " The Council having given order for the 
company of the army foot that quartered in your town to 
march to Sandwich, have thought good, although they 
doubt not of your care of your town, the security whereof, 
as it is of consequence to you, so of great concernment to 
the whole nation, to desire that in the absence of the afore- 
said company you will give order for strict watch and ward 
to be kept, that all such persons as shall endeavour to come 
in or to go out at your port whom you shall suspect to be 
any way dangerous to the peace of the nation may be 

' Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., 7. * Ibid., 12. 3 Ibid., 22. 

4 Ibid., 30. ' /&V/., 22. 



310 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

stayed and secured." l The Corporation of Rye had for 
some time been very importunate for the repayment of 
certain moneys advanced to Colonel Gibbons, and expenses 
incurred for his troops, "houses hired and paid rent for, 
candles and coals "; also of charges " for maintaining watch 
both for fire and candle, and for pay for drums to set the 
watch every night, and for a gunner and for powder match, 
and fixing of arms." They had applied successively to 
Colonel Gibbons, Colonel Morley, Colonel Fagge, and 
the Council of State for the payment of these charges, 
" otherwise the people here are so poor, and the trading so 
much decayed, that we are not able to subsist, but must, as 
many already speak, leave the town and seek a livelihood 
elsewhere if no remedy therein can be had." 2 The sum of 
100 was now ordered to be paid to Thomas Marshall, the 
Mayor, " for the foot company under him," which was 
perhaps in part satisfaction of these claims. 3 

On 1 2th September Captain Robert Vesey of the Constant 
Warwick, wrote to the Admiralty Commissioners from 
Plymouth Sound: "In sailing to my station I met off the 
Isle of Wight a small open French shallop, having no deck, 
that came out of Newhaven, co. Sussex, bound for New- 
haven in France, and having bales of goods and 12 or 14 
English gentlemen passengers. As the weather was bad 
and the wind contrary, they could not get over for France, 
neither did they make any way to the English shore, by 
which I supposed they were of the discontented party that 
were seeking to make their escape. They had no passes." 
The boat sank, but the passengers were saved, and " being 
examined and found to be honest men, were permitted to 
follow their occasions." * 

The restored Parliament was most anxious for a good 
understanding with Holland, but it was not slow to push 
lawful claims. John Baldwyn of Newhaven, Sussex, having 

1 Rye MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), 234. * Ibid,, 230. 

3 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., cciv, 22. 4 Ibid., 27. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 311 

petitioned, for himself and others complaining that a 
small ketch laden with oysters, bound from Portsmouth to 
Colchester, had in April been surprised by an Ostender 
and taken to Zealand, and as was believed, sold to one 
Worts of Yarmouth, and praying restitution it was 
ordered by the Council of State on ipth September, that 
Mr. Downing learn the truth therein, and if it be as al- 
leged, represent the case to the States General, and press 
for compensation, and report to the Council ; also that he 
do the same for all other similar cases, that the subjects 
of this State may have satisfaction for their losses and 
damages. 1 

The Royalist plot had failed, but a new danger faced the 
Commonwealth. The old schism between the Parliament 
and the army had broken out afresh. Two men, Monk, 
with his army in Scotland, and Montagu, in command of 
the fleet, held the future in the hollow of their hands, and 
no man could divine their real intentions. Monk had sent 
unreserved assurances of his loyalty to the Parliament, 
which felt emboldened to resist the demands of Lambert's 
officers that he should be made a Major-General, and second 
in command to Fleetwood. A body of seven commissioners, 
of whom Herbert Morley was one, was appointed for the 
government of the army. 2 Lambert retaliated by marching 
at the head of his troops through London to Palace Yard, 
where Morley, Haselrig, and Walton had drawn up forces 
to resist him. 3 Morley met him pistol in hand, and swore 
that if he stirred a foot he would shoot him. Lambert 
answered : " Colonel Morley, I will go another way, though 
if I please I could pass this." 3 He then faced about, 
marched into Old Palace Yard, and succeeded in occupy- 
ing the Parliament-House, and denying all access to 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., cciv, 32. 

2 Commons' Journals, vii, 796. 

3 Clarke Papers, iv, 71, 85, Fleetwood to Monk. 

4 Carte's Collection, ii, 246. 



312 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

members. The army appointed a Committee of Safety, 
with orders to draw up a new Constitution. 

Morley, Haselrig, and Walton retired to Portsmouth, 
where they secured the garrison. " Yesterday came certain 
news that Colonel Whetham hath delivered up the govern- 
ment of Portsmouth to Sir Arthur Haselrig, Colonel Morley 
and Colonel Walton, who have declared for the Parliament, 
and the navy there hath done the like. They intend to 
make orders about the army, and Colonel Morley's interest 
in those parts is very considerable." l Morley made " in- 
cursions into Hampshire and Sussex, where he had many 
friends." z The three then sent letters to the Lord Mayor 
and the Commissioners of the London militia, demanding 
their support, and entered into an acrimonious correspond- 
ence with Fleetwood. Troops were sent down to besiege 
them in Portsmouth, but on 2Oth December five companies 
of foot and five troops of horse went over to the besieged, 
and the rest of the besieging force submitted. 3 " A very 
worthy person " at Portsmouth, signing himself N. L., wrote 
to " a friend of his in London " that " Sir Arthur Haselrig 
and Colonel Morley have behaved themselves very gallantly 
. . . the siege is raised and the town at liberty without a 
drop of blood."* 

The leaders then marched on London with a force com- 
prising about fifteen troops of horse and a regiment of foot. 
They entered London unopposed on 26th December, and 
restored the Parliament. 5 On the 29th they received the 
public thanks of the House. " Haselrig, Walton and Morley 
came into the House in their riding habits, and Haselrig 
was very jocund and high." e But the shadow of Monk was 
over all their proceedings. 

Morley was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower, and his 

1 Clarke Papers, iv, 166. 3 Clarendon, xvi. 

3 Public Intelligencer, iQ-26th December. 

4 Broadsheet in B.M., pressmark 669, f. 22 (30). 

5 Clarke Papers, iv, 170. 6 Whitelock's Memoirs, p. 686. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 313 

friend John Evelyn thought the occasion fitting for an 
endeavour to induce him to anticipate the supposed designs 
of Monk, and to bring about a restoration of the monarchy. 
He has described his proceedings in his Memoirs. 

" Dec. 10, 1659 [this date and the following are evidently 
erroneous]. I treated privately with Col. Morley, then 
lieutenant of the Tower, and in great trust and power, 
concerning delivering it to the King, and the bringing 
of him in, to the great hazard of my life, but the Colo- 
nel had been my schoolfellow, and I knew would not 
betray me. 

"Dec. 12, 1659. I spent in public concerns for his Majesty, 
pursuing the point to bring over Col. Morley and his 
brother-in-law Fagge, governor of Portsmouth. 

" Jan. 12, 1660. Wrote to Col. Morley again to declare for 
his Majesty. 

"Jan. 22, 1660. I went this afternoon to visit Col. Morley. 
After dinner discoursed with him, but he was very jealous; 
and would not believe Monk came in to do the King any 
service. I told him he might do it without him, and have 
all the honour; he was still doubtful, and would resolve on 
nothing yet, so I took leave." l 

Monk crossed the Tweed on 2nd January 1660, and' 
marched southwards at a leisurely rate. Along his route 
he received addresses calling for the election of a full and 
free Parliament. He entered London on 3rd February. 
On i6th March the Long Parliament dissolved itself after 
a chequered existence of nearly twenty years. A new 
Parliament, " thoroughly royalist and perhaps half presby- 
terian," 2 known as the Convention Parliament, met on 25th 
April. On 8th May Charles was proclaimed King, and on 
the 29th entered London in triumph. 

At Rye Henry Mildmay, one of the King's judges, was 
arrested by John Baker, corporal of the militia troop of 

1 Evelyn's Memoirs, London, 1827, ii, 144-5- 

2 Political History of England, vii, p. 479- 



3H SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

horse under the Earl of Winchelsea. Baker received a 
gratuity of 10 for his " good service." 1 

On 24th May Evelyn wrote : " Came to me Col. Morley, 
about procuring his pardon, now too late, seeing his error 
and neglect of the counsel I gave him, by which if he had 
taken it he had certainly done the great work with the 
same ease that Monk did it, who was then in Scotland, and 
Morley in a post to have done what he pleased, but his 
jealousy and fear kept him from that blessing and honour. 
I addressed him to Lord Mordaunt, then in great favour, 
for his pardon, which he obtained at the cost of 1,000, as 
I heard. O the sottish omission of this gentleman! What 
did I not undergo of danger in this negotiation to have 
brought him over to his Majesty's interest, when it was 
entirely in his hands! " 2 

Evelyn, courtier and virtuoso, in playing the tempter's 
part, had failed to understand the character and constancy 
of his old schoolmate, who through twenty years had faced 
undaunted the stress of war and revolution. If a history 
may have a hero, Herbert Morley will fitly fill the hero's 
place in this one. A Puritan of deep convictions and of 
unwavering faith in them, he maintained an honest and 
honourable part amid the troubles and temptations of the 
time. No tinge of self-seeking sullies the fair record of his 
career. Opposed alike to the arbitrary pretensions of 
Charles and the despotic assumptions of Cromwell, he held 
throughout the revolution a consistent course, his single 
aim the furtherance of his principles for the welfare, as he 
conceived it, of his country and his county. With no pre- 
judice for or against those principles, one may readily 
render due homage to the man who in the day of universal 
apostasy disdained to forswear them, and nobly rejected 
the wealth and honours which the crisis of the Restoration 
offered to his grasp. Active and eminent alike in war and 

1 Cal. S. P. Dom., Interreg., Warrants for Payments, 2ist May, 1660. 

2 Memoirs, ii, 147. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 315 

in council, in the capital and in the southern counties, 
Morley of Glynde holds a distinguished place among the 
protagonists of the age, and the worthies of his own Sussex. 

The Restoration was celebrated throughout the country 
in a becoming manner. At Hastings the Corporation ac- 
counts record payments "to the musketeers on the pro- 
clamation of the King 1 los. qd. More upon them in 
white wine the same day los. For half a barrel of beer 
and bread to the ringers $s. zd. More to the ringers upon 
the Thanksgiving Day 2s. Allowed and paid to William 
Bagg for the King's arms in the Court hall 3 5 s" l 

In the following August an Act of Indemnity and 
Oblivion was passed for the settlement and quieting of the 
kingdom. It was described by the wits of the day as an 
act of indemnity for the King's enemies, and of oblivion 
for his friends. The regicides and a few others were speci- 
ally exempted from its provisions. The honours which 
were distributed certainly exhibit a strong desire to con- 
ciliate influential persons of the opposite party. The 
following Sussex men were created Baronets: Fagge of 
Wiston, Covert of Slaugham, Warner of Parham, Thomas 
of Folkington, Stapley of Patcham, Juxon of Alborne, 
Springate of Broyle, Shirley of Preston. Of these Colonel 
Fagge had been nominated one of the King's judges, 
and had acted throughout with his brother-in-law Her- 
bert Morley; John Stapley was presumably rewarded 
for his share in the plot of 1658, his compromising 
letter to Cromwell being perhaps unknown; and it may 
be that his neighbour and relation, Anthony Shirley, was in 
some way privy to those proceedings, and was one of those 
with whom Colonel Culpepper negotiated during his visit 
to Brighthelmstone in 1659.' Herbert Springate was one 
of the sequestrators appointed to deal with delinquents' 
estates in 1643, but seems to have taken no very active 

1 Hastings MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com., xiii, 4), P- 363. 

2 See ante, p. 308. 



316 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

part in affairs subsequently. The institution of an order 
of the Royal Oak, to commemorate Charles' escape after 
Worcester, was contemplated, but was never carried out. 
The knights, 617 in all, were to wear a silver medal with a 
device of the King in the oak at Boscobel. The scheme 
was laid aside as likely to revive animosities. The follow- 
ing Sussex men were intended to be made knights : l 

Value of his estate. 

George Lunsford .... ,600 per annum. 
Thomas Middleton . . . . 600 

Walter Dobell 1,000 

Lunsford of Windmill Hill . 600 
Edward Eversfield .... 600 
John Eversfield . . . ' . . 1,500 

Henry Goringe 2,000 

John May ;" 600 

Mitchelbourne of Stanmer . .;>'' 600 * 

The Sussex gentry had not been backward in offering 
the King an address of congratulation on his return. 3 John 
Evelyn records: "June soth. The Sussex gentlemen pre- 
sented their address, to which was my hand. I went with 
it and kissed his Majesty's hand, who was pleased to own 
me more particularly by calling me his old acquaintance, 
and speaking very graciously to me." 4 But the county 
generally was not easily turned from its attachment to 
Puritanism. Even in 1663 the towns of Lewes and 
Chichester were particularly "perverse"; so much so, in- 
deed, that the trained bands had to be marched into 
Chichester to prevent an armed rising, 5 while a request 
was made for the justices to assist "the honest party" at 
Lewes, as there was no militia in East Sussex. 6 

1 S. A. C., v, 104. 

2 For a list of other names proposed see S. A. C., xxiii, 210. 

3 Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. II, i, 46. * Memoirs, ii, 150. 
* Cal. S. P. Dom., Chas. II, Ixxx, 99. 

8 Ibid., 56 ; Viet. Hist. Sussex, i, 528. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 317 

Of the Sussex regicides, Sir Gregory Norton, Anthony 
Stapley, and Peregrine Pelham had died before the Restora- 
tion, felices opportunitate mortis. Of the remainder, William 
Cawley escaped to the Continent, and William Goffe to 
America. James Temple and John Downes surrendered 
and were brought to trial. 

James Temple, member of the Long Parliament for 
Bramber, doubtless came of a branch of the ennobled 
family of that name; "but who shall identify a Temple at 
this time? when Dr. Fuller assures us that Hester, the 
widowed lady of Sir Thomas Temple of Stow, Bart., saw 
seven hundred descendants ; and assures us he bought the 
truth of what he avers, by a wager he lost upon it." * He 
was governor of Tilbury fort or bfock-house in 1649.* He 
acted as guardian for Sir Charles Shelley of Michelgrove, 
an infant, and petitioned against the sequestration of that 
estate 3 it was alleged by his opponents in his own inter- 
est. 4 He was tried at the Sessions House in the Old 
Bailey on i6th October 1660, and pleaded Not Guilty; but 
being shown his hand-writing to the warrant, withdrew his 
plea. He was condemned to death, but was suffered to 
remain in the Tower, where, it is supposed, he died.* 

John Downes was tried on the same day as James 
Temple. He is said to have been " a Londoner of mean 
family"; but he rose to considerable eminence on the 
Parliamentary side. He sat for Arundel in the Long Par- 
liament, and was a member of the Council of State in 1651 
and 1659. At his trial, Downes made a powerful appeal 
for mercy on the ground that when Charles denied the 
jurisdiction of the Court appointed to try him, and claimed 
to be heard before the Lords and Commons, he had urged 

1 Noble's Regicides, ii, 263. 

z Cal. Com. for Compounding, 2862; Cal. Com. for Advance of 
Money, 527. 

3 Cal. Com. for Compounding, 2370. 

4 Mystery of the Good Old Cause. 5 State Trials, v, 1217. 



3i8 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

that this course should be adopted. " I remember," he 
said, " the persons between whom I sat, as it fell out, were 
one Mr. Cawley and Colonel Wauton ; these two I sat be- 
twixt ; these were the very words I spake to them : ' Have 
we hearts of stone? Are we men?' They laboured to 
appease me; they told me I would ruin both myself and 
them; said I, 'if I die for it, I must do it.' Cromwell sat 
just the seat below me; the hearing of me made some stir. 
Whispering he looked up to me, and asked me if I were 
myself? What I meant to do, that I could not be quiet? 
' Sir,' said I, ' no, I cannot be quiet.' Upon that I started 
up in the very nick. When the president commanded the 
clerk to read the sentence, I stepping up and as loud as I 
could speak, spoke to this effect these words, or to the like 
purpose: ' My lord,' said I, ' I am not satisfied to give my 
consent to this sentence, but have reason to offer you against 
it, and I desire the Court may adjourn to hear me. 1 
Presently, he stepped up and looked at me; 'Nay,'saith 
he, ' if any of the Court be unsatisfied, the Court must 
adjourn.' Sir, accordingly they did adjourn into the inner 
Court of Wards; when they came there, I was called upon 
by Cromwell to give an account why I had put this trouble 
and disturbance upon the Court." Downes alleged that he 
urged that after the passing of the Act constituting the 
Court, Parliament had made an order that upon the arising 
of any emergency not contemplated at that time, the Court 
should immediately acquaint the House with it ; and that 
this was such a case. " The King denied the jurisdiction 
of the Court, and yet with all vehemency desired to speak 
with his Parliament. Were not these emergencies? if not, 
I knew not what were emergencies." He further argued 
that such a sentence as was contemplated should only be 
given on the fullest evidence; "there was a great shortness 
in this, that not one member of the Court did hear one wit- 
ness viva voce. I did press that if the Court did give judg- 
ment against the King without a fair examination, I said 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 319 

it was such a thing as no judge at any assizes would do 
against a common person." Cromwell answered, " with a 
great deal of storm," that it was not fit that the Court should 
be hindered from its duty by one peevish man, and desired 
them without more ado, to go and do their duty. Downes 
further alleged that he had signed the death-warrant under 
coercion ; " I was threatened with my very life." l He was 
condemned, but was not executed, and died in prison. 

William Cawley, member for Midhurst in the Long 
Parliament, had been one of the most active of the Sussex 
members throughout the period. In 1629 he had com- 
pounded for knighthood, and had paid a fine of 14.? He 
was one of the few regicides who obtained a seat in the 
Convention Parliament of 1659; but being excepted both 
as to life and estate from the Act of Indemnity, he fled to 
the Continent, and appears to have resided at Lausanne. 
His life-history is summed up on the monument erected to 
his father in St. Andrew's Church, Chichester: 

JOHN CAWLEY 
Of the parish of St. Andrew, thrice Mayor of this City, 

Was buried in this Church May 3rd 1621. 

His son William Cawley was baptised here in 1602. 

In 1626 he founded the hospital of St. Bartholomew 

Without the North Gate, now used as the Workhouse of this City. 

In 1647 he represented this city in Parliament 

And in the disputes which arose in the reign of 

King Charles he was one of those who signed the 

Death Warrant of that unfortunate monarch. 
Upon the Restoration he was excepted out of the 
Act of Oblivion. He died at Bruges in Flanders 

At an advanced age. 



1 State Trials, v, 1212. Mr. Gardiner, Civil War, ch. Ixxxi, falls into 
a strange error in this matter. He says : " Downes, indeed, who did 
not sign at all, described himself as having been frightened into 
assenting to the judgment, but he had nothing to say about any ill 
effects resulting to him on account of his refusal to sign." Yet he 
prints the death warrant with Downes' signature appended. At his 
trial, Downes was shown his signature and admitted it. 

2 S. A. C., xvi, 50. 



320 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

But it would seem that he died in Switzerland. For a 
few years ago a tomb was discovered beneath the boarded 
floor of the Church of St. Martin at Vevay, bearing this 
inscription : 

Hie jacet tabernaculum terrestre Gulielmi Cawley Armigeri Angli- 
cani nuper de Cicestria in Comitatu Sussexiae qui postquam aetate 
sua insenivit Dei consilio obdormivit 6 Jan 1666 aetatis suae 63. : 

Major-General Goffe was also excepted from the Act of 
Indemnity. Before the Restoration actually took place a 
warrant had been issued for his arrest, on i6th April 
1660, probably on suspicion that he was concerned in 
Lambert's intended rising. On 22nd September a reward 
of ;ioo was offered for his apprehension; 2 but he suc- 
ceeded in escaping to America with his father-in-law, 
Lieutenant-General Whalley. 

Goffe had been high in favour with Cromwell, and had 
even been spoken of as his possible successor: "he is 
judged the only fit man to have Major-General Lambert's 
place and command, as Major-General of the army; and 
having so far advanced, is in a fair way to the Protector- 
ship hereafter if he be not treated as Lambert was." 3 He 
was one of the persons summoned by Cromwell during his 
last illness to receive his declaration appointing his son 
Richard his successor, attested Cromwell's appointment on 
oath before the Council, and subscribed the proclamation 
declaring Richard Cromwell Protector. After Richard's 
fall his importance greatly diminished ; but he was one of 
four Commissioners sent by the Council of the Army to 
Scotland in November 1659, to mediate with Monk for the 
prevention of a new civil war. 

1 The Consecration form of the chapel of St. Bartholomew's Hos- 
pital, by Prebendary Deedes, Chichester, 1909, p. 5. 

2 By the King. A proclamation for apprehension of Edward Whalley 
and William Goffe. B.M., Thomason Tracts, pressmark 669, f. 26 (9). 

3 Second Narrative of the late Parliament ; Harleian Miscellany, 
ed. Park, iii, 483. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 321 

Goffe and Whalley landed at Boston, Mass, in July 1660, 
and were well received by the Governor, John Endicott. 
But the English Government sent peremptory orders for 
their arrest, and they were forced to fly. Some of their 
subsequent adventures have been the theme of novelists, 1 
who have told the story of Goffe using his talents of leader- 
ship to defend the town of Hadley, Mass., from an attack 
by Indians. He died there about 1679." He, too, like his 
brother Stephen, had travelled far from his birthplace, the 
Rectory of Stanmer. 

The Sussex ports maintained their reputation as places 
of embarkation for distinguished refugees to the Continent. 
Richard Cromwell escaped from Lewes, and Edmund 
Ludlow by the same route a few weeks later. It has been 
suggested that perhaps Colonel Morley's protecting hand 
may be traced in these proceedings. 3 Ludlow has left an 
interesting account of his flight: "The time appointed for 
my departure from England being come, after I had settled 
my affairs in the best manner I could, and taken leave of 
my dearest friends and relations, I went into a coach about 
the close of the day, and passing through the City over 
London Bridge to St. George's Church in Southwark, I 
found a person ready to receive me with two horses, one of 
which I mounted and began my journey. My guide was so 
well acquainted with the country, that we avoided all the 
considerable towns on the road, where we suspected any 
soldiers might be quartered; and the next morning by 
break of day we arrived at Lewes without interruption. 
On the Tuesday following, a small vessel being prepared 
for my transportation, I went on board; but the wind 
blowing hard and the vessel having no deck, I removed 

1 Scott in Peveril of the Peak, and Fenimore Cooper in The 
Borderers. 

* For particulars of his life in America, see D. N. B., and the 
authorities there quoted. 

* S. A. C., v, ico. 

Y 



322 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

into another that had been provided for me by a merchant 
of Lewes, and was struck upon the sands as she was falling 
down to receive me. This vessel had carried over Mr. 
Richard Cromwell some weeks before, and lay very com- 
modiously for my safety on that occasion, for after I had 
entered into her to secure myself from the weather, till I 
might put to sea in the other, the searchers came on 
board my small vessel to see what she carried, omitting to 
search that in which I was, not suspecting any person or 
thing to be in her, because she was struck upon the sands. 
But the storm still continuing, and the men thinking not 
fit to put to sea, we continued in the harbour all that day 
and the night following; the master, who had used the 
ports of Ireland whilst I had been in that country, amongst 
other things enquiring if lieutenant-general Ludlow were 
not imprisoned with the rest of the King's judges; to 
which I answered that I had not heard of any such thing. 
The next morning we set sail, and had the wind so favour- 
able that we arrived in Dieppe that evening before the gates 
were shut." 1 

With the reward, punishment, or disappearance of the 
principal actors, the curtain falls on " the Great Rebellion." 
It had apparently achieved nothing. A Stuart was again 
seated on the throne of the Plantagenets and the Tudors ; 
the bishops returned to their palaces ; the nobles embarked 
once more on the perilous seas of Court pleasures and 
Court intrigue. But at this distance we may perceive that 
much had happened to change the conditions of national 
existence, especially two very momentous things. The 
commercial pre-eminence of Holland had been successfully 
challenged, and the foundations of a British sea-power and 
of a world-wide British Empire had been laid. And the 
growth of an absolute monarchy had been stopped. 
Throughout Europe the limited monarchies of the Middle 

1 Ludlow's Memoirs, 1771, p. 398. 



ANARCHY AND RESTORATION 323 

Ages were being replaced by military despotisms. In 
England alone the claim of the national assembly to the 
power of the purse gave it some continuance of vitality. 
Absolutism was the order of the time; in some European 
countries it has either persisted until our own day, or has 
been removed by very drastic methods. Perhaps nothing 
but the great wave of religious enthusiasm which rolled 
through England in the early part of the seventeenth 
century, and in such counties as Sussex carried all before 
it, could have availed to kill it here. The wave spent its 
force and subsided into a gentle current, but the edifice 
which it had destroyed has never been restored. Sub- 
sequent political struggles have been concerned with other 
issues. 



APPENDIX A 

LINKS WITH THE PAST 

IF many of the leading Sussex men of the Civil War period 
have to-day no representatives in the direct line, there are not- 
able exceptions. The Earl of Ashburnham is seventh in descent 
from John Ashburnham, the King's friend and companion in 
flight. The Earl of Chichester is eighth in descent from Sir 
Thomas Pelham, member for the county in the Long Parliament, 
and a consistent supporter of the Parliamentary cause. And the 
blood of Cromwell flows in his veins, as it does in those of so 
many prominent English families; 1 Lord Chichester's great-great- 
grandmother, Anne Frankland, was the Lord Protector's great- 
grand-daughter. Colonel Morley of Glynde left no heirs; the 
Brands hold Glynde through their descent from the widow of his 
son William, who re-married John Trevor. But Mr. Goring of 
Wiston is descended from Morley's sister Mary, who married 
Colonel Fagge, created a baronet at the Restoration. 

Perhaps no existing Sussex family is so closely representative 
of the leaders on both sides in the Civil War as the Campions of 
Danny. Colonel Campion is not only eighth in descent from Sir 
William Campion, whose wife was a Parker of Ration, and who 
was killed at Colchester while fighting under the command of 
George Goring, Earl of Norwich, then of Danny; but by the 
marriage of Barbara, daughter and heiress of Peter Courthope 
(grandson of Peter Courthope, who purchased Danny from Lord 
Norwich) by Philadelphia, daughter of Sir John Stapley, he 
descends not only from the Stapleys of Patcham, but from Sir 
Herbert Springate of the Broyle, Sir John Stapley's wife Mary 
being Sir Herbert's eldest daughter; and also from George Goring 

1 Harrison, Oliver Cromwell, p. 34. 
325 



326 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

of Danny, whose daughter (sister of Lord Norwich) married 
Anthony Stapley, member for the county in the Long Parliament. 

Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson is a direct descendant of the lady 
who regaled the Parliamentary soldiers on wheat-ear pie to such 
good purpose. The Frewens of Brickwall still represent the 
Puritan Rector of Northiam, whose son became an Archbishop. 
If during the Civil War the Burrells were more busy with their 
furnaces than with public affairs, their descendants have made 
amends since. In some cases the generations connecting the 
reigns of Charles I and George V are singularly few. The present 
owner of the manor of Preston (long since passed from the posses- 
sion of the Shirleys) is but sixth in descent from Edward Stanford, 
who as churchwarden of Slinfold signed the Protestation Return 
of 1641-2. And the present Sir John Shelley is sixth in descent 
from the young Sir Charles whose goods were hidden in a chimney 
at Michelgrove. 

It is a pleasing testimony to the continuity of things in Sussex 
that among the representatives of the county in the House of 
Commons to-day are a Howard, a Courthope, and a Campion. 



APPENDIX B 

THE following account of a fracas at Lewes in 1656 illustrates the 
indignation of the Royalists at the " decimation " tax (see page 
283). It is printed in the Thurloe State Papers, vol. v, 779, and 
in S.A.C., xxxix, 62, where the identity of John Pellet is dis- 
cussed. Thomas Woodcock was concerned with John Stapley in 
the Royalist plot of 1658 (see page 297), and Colonel Culpepper 
was at Brighthelmstone on similar business in 1659 (page 308). 

"AN INFORMATION OF JOHN PELLET, SATURDAY, JAN. IOTH, 1656, 
AT THE BULL AT LEWES AT MR. RICHARDSON'S. 

" Upon a discourse had betwixt J. Pellet of Arundel and Col. 
Culpepper, who curst the decimators and all the devisers of the 
decimation. H. Woodcock upon that discourse arising about 
decimation, which being defended as just in the Lord Protector 



APPENDIX B 327 

by John Pellet, the said Henry Woodcock did with many reproach- 
ful words enveigh against decimation and decimators. And being 
told by Pellet it was a mercy in the Protector and Council, in 
regard the Cavaliers had forfeited both life and goods, the said 
Woodcock cursed that mercy, and said if he had as many lives as 
he had hairs, taking himself by a lock of his hair, he would spend 
them all against such traitors and rebels, as were against the 
Cavaliers. And being told by John Pellet that the Cavaliers had 
had fighting enough, wherein God was always against them, and 
the said Pellet told him thus much, ' We have always beaten you,' 
the said Woodcock asked Pellet whom he meant by saying ' we ' ; 
the said Pellet told him he meant the Protector and those that 
took part with the late Parliament against the late King's part; 
who had conquered the Cavalier part at Marston Moor, at Naseby, 
Cheriton, Oxford, and all places else, where God had given signal 
testimonies of his power against the late King's party. To which 
the said Woodcock replied, saying 'You are all a company of 
traitors and rebels,' adding these words ' God confound me if, in 
case I had the power in my hand, there should never a rogue of 
you all have a bit of bread in the kingdom '; referring in his said 
speech to the Protector, and all that take part with him against 
the Cavalier party ; adding more a report of two persons going 
forth to fight, the one at his going forth saying ' Lord bless me, 
Lord bless me ' ; the other whose name was Leonard, crying out 
with his arms cast out, 'God damn me, God damn me, God 
damn me'; commending the said Leonard, saying that he came 
off bravely when the other was slain. To the which the said 
Pellet replied, saying ' Where now are all your "God damn me's "? 
Hath not the Lord trampled them as mire in the street under the 
feet of the present power?' Whereupon the said Woodcock, 
looking round about him to observe if any person heard him, the 
said Harry Woodcock spake of having a thousand men and five hun- 
dred horse, vowing he would cut them all (having relation to the 
Protector and present power) in pieces, and that before long time the 
said Pellet should see it and feel it. To the which the said Pellet re- 
plied, saying the said Woodcock showed what he would do, in case he 
had power in his hand, as the Protector and the present power had 
in theirs; the said Pellet adding, that in case he were of Council with 
the present government, such implacable cavaliers and enemies to 



328 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 

the state as would not be at peace in the nation, he would have them 
sent to Jamaica; telling the said Woodcock it was great mercy in 
the Protector and Council to let such irreconcileable enemies 
have a being. Whereupon the said Woodcock clapping his hand 
into his pocket, drew out somewhat, and clapped to the heart of 
the said Pellet, vowing he could afford to pistol him and calling 
him traitor and rebel, bidding the said Pellet to honour the King, 
demanding of the said Pellet which way he went home, vowing he 
would have an account of him very speedily. And Francis Wood- 
cock, one of the brothers of the said Henry, coming into the 
chamber at that instant, it being the lodging chamber of the said 
John Pellet, the said Henry Woodcock began to repeat to his said 
brother part of the former discourse; and forthwith the said 
Francis Woodcock said, in case he had said so much to him, he 
would have thrown the beer in his face; and struck the said Pellet 
standing peaceably by the fireside with a glass filled with beer in 
the face, giving the said Pellet three wounds near the eye. And 
the said Henry did at that instant catch the said Pellet by the 
hair, and both of the Woodcocks did wound and violently beat 
and abuse the said Pellet, giving him six wounds in the head and 
face, tearing his clothes, and plucking much of his hair off his 
head and laming him in the leg, insomuch by effusion of blood 
running from the said wounds, two table-napkins were soaked in 
blood; the said Pellet's clothes being exceeding bloody, his wounds 
bleeding all night, although dressed by an able surgeon. 

" And the said Pellet upon oath further saith that the said Henry 
Woodcock at the time of this discourse was very sober, and did 
well understand what he spake, and that during this discourse, 
which lasted about an hour in the said Pellet's chamber, where 
there was no person present in the said chamber, during the dis- 
course aforesaid, but the said Pellet and the said Henry Woodcock. 

" And the said John Pellet upon oath saith that at the time of 
the battery there was no person present, but William Gratwick of 
Torton; and that the said Pellet used not a word of provocation 
to Francis Woodcock nor to the said Henry; for truth whereof 
Pellet refers to the testimony of the said William Gratwick. 

" I do upon this i2th of Jan. 1656 upon oath, testify the whole 
above written narrative and discovery, 

"JOHN PELLET." 



APPENDIX B 329 

This was given in to Mr. Boughton at Lewes the loth January 
1656. 

Pellet subsequently made the following further deposition: 

"The occasion of that controversy which arose at the Bull, 
Lewes betwixt Henry Woodcock and John Pellet was by means 
of one Culpepper, who being in the chamber of John Pellet, 
refused his part of the reckoning; and being thereunto requested 
by John Pellet, he answered he was decimated for his sins and 
demerits. Hereupon he cursed, ' The plague of God take the 
decimators, and all that devised decimation.' The said Pellet 
affirmed it was just in the Protector and his Council, since the 
cavaliers had forfeited lives and estates. And the said Pellet being 
asked if he would justify decimation, since it was after the act of 
oblivion and composition, Pellet replied and said, ' the Parliament 
did not omit them to composition and pass the act of oblivion to 
render the Cavaliers able to cut the Parliament's own throats.' 
Hereupon the said Colonel Culpepper cursed the late parliament, 
saying they were rogues and villains and knaves, and pulled out by 
the ears for their knavery ; which being denied by Pellet, and he 
telling the said Culpepper the Cavaliers were the conquered party, 
the company broke up; and presently after the within written 
Henry Woodcock laid hold of Pellet, telling him he would have 
an account of him for speaking against the Cavalier party; and 
thereupon ensued the within written discourse between Henry 
Woodcock and Pellet. 

" JOHN PELLET." 

This was given in upon oath at Lewes the 2ist January 1656 
before the Commissioners. 



INDEX 



ABBOT, Mr., 295. 
Abingdon, Sussex troops for the 
garrison at, 173. 

Adur, Morley falls back on the, 78. 
Royalist advance east of the, stopped, 

79- 

Akehurst, Mr., of Warbleton, 275. 
Alberry, John, churchwarden of Arun- 

del, 28. 

Albourne Place, 223. 
Alford, Sir Edward, member for Arun- 

del, 16. 

fined on Exeter Articles, 131. 
and the Rectory of Cheltenham, 

294. 

Algerian pirates, in the Channel, 14. 
Allen, John, goldsmith of Rye, 13. 
Alton, Waller's attack on, 82. 
the prisoners taken at, 86. 
Crawford leaves his sack at, 90. 
Amberley Castle, seized for the Parlia- 
ment, 129. 
Anderson, Mr. Robert, at Chichester, 

44. 

fined, 126. 

Anderton, Robert, 287. 
Andrews, Bishop, 29. 
Appledram, 295. 
Apsley, Colonel Edward, his narrative 

of his capture, 74. 

member of Sussex Sequestrating Com- 
mittee, 1 20. 
member for Steyning, endeavours to 

raise a regiment, 157. 
Apsley, John, at Chichester, 45. 

admitted to compound, 130. 
Apsley, Mr., Rector of Pulborough, 
141. 



Archdeaconry Court of Lewes, 25. 

records of, 26. 

Ardingley, the incumbent of, se- 
questered, 142. 

Arlington, the incumbent of, se- 
questered, 142. 
Armies, components of the Royal and 

Parliamentary, 34. 
Articles of Surrender, 126. 
Artillery in the Civil War, 35. 
Arundel, 3. 
Sir Edward Alford elected member 

for, 1 6. 

Sir N. Brent's visitation to, 28. 
the castle captured by a Roundhead 

force, 51. 

recaptured by Ford and Bishop, 72. 
Waller advances on, 82. 

attacks and captures the town, 85. 
lays siege to the castle, 86. 
incidents of the siege of, 88. 
the terms of surrender of, 93. 
the prisoners taken at, 94. 
Colonels Morley and Springate joint 

governors of, 95. 
the damage suffered by, 96. 
Chillingworth's part in the siege of, 
IOI. 

victims to the insanitary state of, 

no. 

Lady Springate summoned to, 115. 
the town's desolation, 116. 
the incumbent of, sequestered, 142. 
wreck of the St. James near, 151. 
the castle used as a magazine, 156. 
garrisoned by the trained bands, 162. 
Captain Morley governor of, 169, 

259. 



331 



332 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Arundel continued. 

Ordnance brought from Chichester 
to, 173. 

design to remove the Horsham maga- 
zine to, 197. 

Charles II's narrow escape at, 259. 

the castle slighted, 276. 
Arundel, Mr. , his sons captured at sea, 

65- 
Arundel, Thomas, Earl of, 4, 50. 

his estates sequestered, 122. 
Ashbee, Thomas, of Maresfield, 27. 
Ashburnham, John, member for Hast- 
ings, 16. 

treasurer to the King, 19. 

fined half his estate, 121. 

his early life, 185. 

accompanies the King from Oxford, 
186. 

escapes with the King from Hampton 
Court, 187. 

offers to kill Hammond, 188. 

his projects of escape, 188. 

restores the fortunes of his family 
by marriage, 189. 

his descendant's vindication of his 
character, 190. 

and Coke's plot, 228. 

ordered to augment certain livings, 

295- 
his descendants, 325. 

Ashburnham, Lawrence, appointed 
deputy-lieutenant, 156. 

Ashburnhams, the, a Royalist family, 4. 

Ashford, John, 161. 

Association, Decree of, for the southern 
counties, 67. 

Astley, Sir Jacob, 33. 

Aylen, a leader of the Clubmen, 169. 

Aylwine, John, receiver of contribu- 
tions at Lewes, 156. 

Bagant, William, of Alfriston, 27. 

Bainbridge, Colonel, 288. 

Baker, Mr. John, Justice of the Peace, 31. 

High Sheriff, 73. 

member of Sussex Sequestrating Com- 
mittee, ^120. 



Baker, John, Corporal, 313. 
Baker, Thomas, of Rustington, 234. 
Baker, William, 222. 
Baldwyn, John, 310. 
Balfour, Sir William, 19. 
Ballard, Thomas, 288. 
Ballow, Mrs., 139. 
Balnidine, Sir William, 53. 
Bamford, or Bamfield, Colonel, 84. 
Barkham, in Fletching, 240. 
Barlow, of Hastings, 149. 
Barnstaple Articles of Surrender, 128. 
Baronets created at the Restoration 

3'5- 

Barret, Bridget, of Wivelsfield, 27. 
Basing House : 

Colonel Morley at the siege of, 158. 
effect of its resistance on Sussex, 161. 
Sussex troops for the siege of, 165. 
Batnor, Rev. John, of Westmeston, 26. 
Batten, Alice, wife of John, 232. 
Battle, local Committee of Plundered 

Ministers at, 138. 
Samuel Gott at, 241. 
Baude, Peter, ironfounder, 9. 
Bayne, Colonel, at Arundel, 87. 
Beachy Head, Dunkirk privateers at, 

268. 

Beeding, Charles II at, 259. 
Beeding Bridge, 201. 
Bellingham, Mr. , rides from Chichester 

to Portsmouth, 39. 
Benbrick, Joseph, of Rye, 27. 
Bennett, Colonel, 66. 
Bennett, Sir Humphrey, his prepara- 
tions in Sussex, 299. 
the case against him dropped, 302. 
Berkeley, Sir John, with Ford at 

Reading, 98. 

and John Ashburnham, 188, 190. 
Berkshire, manifesto of the Clubmen in, 

167. 
Bessano, Master, a Counsellor-at-Law, 

150. 

Betsworth, Arthur, 288. 
Bexhill, the incumbent of, sequestered, 

143- 
Bible, the influence of the, 22. 



INDEX 



333 



Bide, Rev. Thomas, of Crawley, 26. 

Bigge, Mr., 139. 

Billingshurst, population of, in 1641-2, 

18. 
Binderton, the Protestation return from, 

17- 

the living of, 294. 
Bingham, Governor of Poole, 160. 
Binnes, Thomas, of West Hoathly, 27. 
Bishop, Henry, of Henfield: petition 

from Virginia in favour of, 125. 
Bishop, Mr., 299. 
Bishop, Lady, entertained by Waller, 

92. 
Bishop, Sir Edward, of Parham, with 

Ford at Chichester, 45. 
at Arundel, 72. 
drives away Colonel Apsley's sheep, 

75- 

hostage for the surrender of Arundel, 

93- 

declared incapable of any employ- 
ment, 97. 

a prisoner in the Tower, 124. 
sequestration of his estate, 125. 
Bishops, the, of Parham, a Royalist 

family, 4. 

Blackdown House, 14, 276. 
Blake, in Rye Bay, 273. 
defeated off Dungeness, 274. 
orders the impressment of seamen, 

278. 

Board, Herbert, member of Sussex Se- 
questrating Committee, 120. 
Bodley, Major, at Arundel, 87. 
Bond, Mr., 227. 
Bonwick, Richard, 291. 
Book of Sports, the, 230. 
Booker, Richard, of Pulborough, fined, 

126. 

Borde, Andrew, u. 
Borstall Articles of Surrender, 134. 
Borstall House, defended by Sir Wil- 
liam Campion, 192. 
Bothell, Mr., 295. 
Boughton, Colonel Richard, one of 

Goffe's commissioners, 288, 329. 
Boulte, Mr. John, 140. 



Bow Hill, 257. 

Bowyer, Sir Thomas, his origin, 15. 

member for Bramber, 16. 

at Chichester, 39. 

expelled from the House of Com- 
mons, 43. 

sends a horse to Chichester, 45. 

made prisoner by Waller, 56. 

his estate sequestered, 122. 
Bramber, Captain Temple's defensive 
works at, 73. 

the castle defended by Temple, 78. 

the bridge held by Temple, 78. 

Captain Fuller and Everden in charge 
of, 86. 

Charles II at, 259. 

Brambletye, local Committee of Plun- 
dered Ministers at, 138. 
Brambletye House, searched, 309. 
Brede, iron -works at, 176. 
Bremen, Captain, 307. 
Brent, Sir Nathaniel, his visitation, 27. 
Brentford, the King's treatment of 

prisoners taken at, 86. 
Brett, Thomas of Cuckfield, 30. 
Brighthelmstone (Brighton), anciently 
a port, II. 

ordnance sent from to Lewes, 41. 

the Earl of Thanet embarks at, 64. 

a wreck at, 153. 

unrest at, in 1648, 201. 

Charles II escapes from, 260. 

the Warspite ordered to, 269. 

importance of the North Sea fishery 
to, 270. 

the Dutch fleet off, 274. 

the Cat at, 279. 

dismay at, 280. 

Ovingdean parish joined to, 296. 

Colonel Culpepper at, 308, 315. 
Bristol Articles of Surrender, 131. 
Broadbridge, George, 266. 
Broadwater, Waller at, 151. 
Brockett, Ninian, 292. 
Broughton, Captain, 252. 
Browne, Colonel, second-in-command 
to Waller before Chichester, 50. 

his son captured at sea, 65. 



334 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Browne, John, ironfounder, 176. 

examined by a committee of the 

House, 177. 

Browne, John, Jan., 177. 
Browne, Lady, 267. 
Broyll, the, occupied by Waller, 52. 

manor of, sold to John Downes, 56. 
Bruff, Martha, wife of Stephen, 8. 
Buckle, the historian, 4. 
Bunyard, Mr., 29. 
Burrell, Walter, his furnace, 276. 
Burrells, the, supporters of the Parlia- 
ment, 5. 

enriched by the iron industry, 9. 
Burton, Dr. Edward of Westham, 32. 

and the bishopric of Chichester, 

240. 
Burton, Dr. John, his journey into 

Sussex, 7. 

Burton, Lieutenant, 76. 
Bury Hill, the Clubmen at, 169. 
Busbridge, Thomas, member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
Butler, James, of London, purchaser of 

Amberley Castle, 129. 
Butt, John of Bosham, 133. 
Butts, Timothy, 249. 
Buxted, ironworks at, 9. 
Byron, Sir John, 20. 

Calle, John, 145. 

Camber Castle, 73. 

Campion, Henry, 134. 

Campion, Lady,' daughter of Sir Thomas 

Parker, 193. 
Campion, Sir William, sells Lamborn 

Hall to Peter Courthope, 134. 
fined on Borstall Articles, 134. 
at the relief of Basing House, 160. 
his correspondence with Colonel Mor- 

ley, 191. 

and with Major Shilbourne, 193. 
killed at Colchester, 248. 
his descendants, 325. 
Campions, the, of Combwell and 

Danny, 134, 193, 325. 
Car, Mr., parson of St. Clement's, 
Hastings, 149, 299. 



Carey, Major Horatio, 52. 

Carleton, George, Bishop of Chichester 

(1619-1628), 79, 301. 
Carleton, Guy, conspirator, afterwards 

Bishop of Chichester, 301. 
Carleton, Captain Henry, at Shoreham, 

75- 

his parentage and character, 79. 
member of Sussex SequestratingCom- 

mittee, 123, 301. 
Carver, Derrick, 222. 
Caryll, Sir John, his house at South 

Harting, 70, 120. 
Caryll, John, of Harting, fined, 1 20. 

his estate sequestered, 121. 
Carylls, the, a Royalist family, 4. 
enriched by the iron industry, 9. 
Cat, the, 279, 280. 
Catre, Captain, 52. 
Cawley, John, the elder, 319. 
Cawley, John, the younger, 302. 
Cawley, William, elected member for 

Midhurst, 16. 
leads the Parliamentary party at 

Chichester, 39. 

procures guns from Portsmouth, 42. 
takes flight to Portsmouth, 42. 
writes to the Speaker concerning the 
Royalist capture of Chichester, 43. 
his letter to the Speaker from Farn- 

ham, 67. 
member of Sequestrating Committee 

for Sussex, 120. 
his interest in Sir Thomas Bowyer's 

estate, 123. 
appointed governor of Cowdray 

House, 161. 
reports the outrageous proceedings 

of the Clubmen, 169. 
writes to Scawen concerning the 
difficulty of raising men and money, 
171. 

one of the King's judges, 219. 
signs the death-warrant, 220. 
member of the Council of State, 

225. 

presents his son to the living of Rother- 
field, 302. 






INDEX 



335 



Cawley, William contimied. 

member for Chichester in Richard 
Cromwell's Parliament, 305. 

escapes to the Continent at the Re- 
storation, 317. 

his career, and monument at Chiches- 
ter, 319. 

his death and burial at Vevay, 320. 
"Century of Malignant Priests," the, 

142. 

Charles I, conventional ideas concern- 
ing, 2. 

his faults and virtues, 3. 

his raising of ship-money, 13. 

his misuse of the navy, 14. 

his close connection with numerous 
Sussex men, 18. 

appoints Lunsford to the Lieutenancy 
of the Tower, 19. 

attempts to arrest the five members, 
20. 

leaves London, 21. 

raises his standard at Nottingham, 33. 

his proclamation read at Chichester, 
36. 

effect of his advance towards London, 
41. 

Hopton's invasion of Sussex a part 
of his plan of campaign, 71. 

threatens to hang prisoners, 86. 

and the defence of Basing House, 

159- 

urged to advance into Sussex and 

Kent, 176. 
sends Stephen Goffe to Holland, 

180. 
his letter to the Prince of Orange, 

181. 

his intrigues abroad, 182. 
his want of sympathy with English 

national feeling, 184. 
his flight from Oxford with John 

Ashburnham, 186. 
his escape from Hampton Court, 

187. 

his trial, 219. 
accompanied to the scaffold by 

Bishop Juxon, 220. 



constitutional change brought about 

by his death, 225. 
and the " Book of Sports," 230, 
his effort to win over John Selden, 

235- 

his patronage of Thomas May, 236. 
and Accepted Frewen, 239. 
and Henry Gage, 243. 
Charles II, project of marriage for, 180. 
absolves John Ashburnham of alleged 

treachery, 188. 
crowned at Scone, 251. 
defeated at Worcester, 252. 
his wanderings and ultimate escape 

from Brighthelmstone, 252 stq. 
project for his landing in Sussex, 

296. 

his restoration, 313. 
receives a deputation of Sussex gentry, 

316. 

Charles, the, 65. 
Charlton, 129. 

the living of, 294. 
Chate, Thomas, member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
Chatfield, Mr., preacher at Horsham, 

137- 

and the rising at Horsham, 199. 
Cheltenham, the rectory of, 294. 
Cheynell, Dr. Francis, visits Temple at 

Bramber, 78. 
his characters of Carleton and Ever- 

den, 79. 

at the capture of Arundel, 103. 
his early career, 104. 
takes charge of Chillingworth, 105. 
plies him with questions, 106. 
his conduct atChillingworth's funeral, 

1 08. 
member of Westminster Assembly, 

137- 

obtains the living of Petworth, 139. 
post- Restoration references to him, 

140. 

and the case of Mr. Large, 144. 
Chichester, 3. 
Christopher Lewknor and Sir Wm. 

Morley, elected members for, 16. 



336 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Chichester continued. 

population of in 1641-2, 17. 
state of the Cathedral in 1616, 25. 
Sir Nathaniel Brent's visitation to, 

28. 

the King's proclamation read at, 36. 
flight of the Mayor from to York, 37. 
the city declares for the Parliament, 

39- 

cavaliers send aid to the garrison at 

Portsmouth, 40. 
the city fortified, 42. 
cavaliers seize the magazine, 42. 
letter describing the proceedings at, 

43- 

Waller prepares to attack, 48. 
the city besieged, 52. 
surrenders to Waller, 53. 
treatment of Royalist gentry and 

cathedral clergy at, 55. 
the Dean's account of damage done 

to the cathedral, 57. 
the cathedral library, 61. 
the needle-makers of, 62. 
Colonel Anthony Stapley, governor 

of the city, 62. 

Chillingworth removed to, 105. 
his death, and burial in the cloisters 

at, 107. 

the County Committee of Sequestra- 
tion at, 1 20. 
the County Committee of Plundered 

Ministers at, 138. 
Colonel Stapley ordered to increase 

the garrison, 156. 

the trained bands summoned to, 162. 
Algernon Sidney appointed governor, 

164. 
the Clubmen assemble near the city, 

169. 

the city disgarrisoned, 173. 
Bishop Juxon a native of, 221. 
Colonel Counter visits Mr. Mansel, 

a merchant of the city, 255. 
avoided by Charles II in his ride 

through Sussex, 258. 
the parishes of St. Martin and St. 

Andrew united, 296. 



troops ordered to in 1659, 307. 
Royalist design to capture, 307. 
Major Clarke's company at, 309. 
" perverseness " of in 1663, 316. 
William Cawley's connection with, 

319. 

Chichester, the Bishop of, Dr. Henry 
King, deprived of his emoluments, 
56. 

his palace sold to John Downes, 56. 
his estate sequestered, 135. 
designed for the Archbishopric of 

York, 240. 

Chichester, the Dean of, Dr. Bruno 
Reeves, deprived and fined by 
Waller, 57. 
his account of the damage to the 

cathedral, 57. 

compounds on Oxford Articles, 135. 
Chilgrove, 129. 

the living of, 294. 
Chillingworth, Dr., taken prisoner at 

Arundel, 101. 

his birth and early life, 101. 
" a son of the Renaissance," 102. 
unpopular at Court, 103. 
being sick is sent to Chichester, 105. 
beset by Cheynell and other Puritans, 

106. 

his death and burial, 107. 
unseemly scene at his graveside, 108. 
Chiltington Common, 74. 
Chittey, Captain Henry, holds the maga- 
zine at Chichester, 39. 
fortifies the town, 42. 
exempted from the royal pardon, 42. 
his letter to the Speaker from Ports- 
mouth, 43. 
Chowne, H., member for Horsham in 

1659, 305- 

Christian names, Puritan, 24. 
Clarke, Major, 307. 
Clayton, parish church of, 26. 
Cliffe, powder sent to, 41. 

the incumbent of, sequestered, 142. 
Clowson, William, 212. 
Clubmen, the rising of the, 167. 
in Sussex, 169. 



INDEX 



337 



Coach-hire in Sussex, 115, 210. 

Cobden Hill, 75. 

Cockeram, Richard, Mayor of Rye, 95. 

with Morley at Hastings, 149. 
Coke, Thomas, reveals his plot, 227. 
Colbrand, Richard, musician, 23. 
Colchester, siege of, 205, 248. 
Coldham, William, arrested at Chiches- 

ter and fined, 127. 
Collet, Peter van, gunsmith, 9. 
Collidon, Sir John, 99. 
Collins, Captain Thomas, member of 

Sussex Sequestrating Committee, 

1 20. 

Colman, Rose, 211. 
Comber, John, of Donnington, 126. 
Comber, Thomas, 240. 
Combwell, the Campions of, 134, 193, 

325- 
Commission of Array, the, 36. 

for Sussex, 42, 45. 
Commissioners for Securing the Peace, 

288. 

Committee for Advance of Money, 132. 
Committee for Compounding, 121. 
Committee of Plundered Ministers, 

136. 
Committee for Sequestrating Royalists' 

Estates, 120. 
Compton, Sir Henry, of Brambletye, 

fined, 131. 
Congreve, quoted, concerning wrecks 

in Sussex, 153. 

Conyers, Mr., Vicar of Horsham, 136. 
Cooper, Sir Anthony Ashley, 160, 168. 
Cooper, Ralph, member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
Corbett, Mr. John, 295. 
Cordell, Mr., 40. 
Corker, the spy, 296, 298. 
Corn, great rise in price of, 207. 
Cornishmen in Hopton's army, 88. 
Cotton, Thomas, arrested for levying 

contributions in Sussex, 66. 
Coulton, Rev. John, Chaplain of the 

Rye troop, 78. 
his letters to S. Jeake quoted, 85, 87, 

94, 95- 



Council of State, Sussex members of 

the, 225. 
Courthope, Peter, of Isfield, a supporter 

of the parliament, 5. 
high-sheriff of Sussex in 1650, 134. 
his claim to Lamborn Hall in Essex, 

134- 

purchases Danny, 134. 
his descendants, 325. 
Covert, John of Slaugham, taken 
prisoner at the fall of Chichester, 
56. 
Covert, Sir W., his letters concerning 

wrecks, 153. 

Coverts, the, a Royalist family, 4. 
Cowdray House, great state kept at, 

14. 
Hopton puts a Royalist garrison 

in, 72. 

taken by Waller, 82. 
stripped of its contents, 83. 
sequestration of, 131. 
its proposed demolition, 161. 
William Cawley, governor of, 161. 
Colonel Fagge ordered to garrison, 

308. 

Cowper, Lord Chancellor, 6. 
Cox, Sarah, of Chichester, fined, 130. 
Cox, Dr. William, fined on Exeter 

articles, 135. 
Craddock, Thomas, of Chichester, fined 

on Truro Articles, 127. 
Craven, Lord, his house in Surrey, 

114. 
Crawford, Earl of, his Scotch troopers 

at Chichester, 53. 
threatens Southampton, 66. 
some of his regiment at South Hart- 
ing, 70. 

leaves his sack at Alton, 90. 
Crawley, parish church of, 26. 
Creswell, Robert, 25. 
Crispe's regiment, 66. 
Cromwell, Oliver, exaggerated views of 

his character, 2. 
Mr. Gardiner's estimate, 2. 
his capture of Basing House, 160. 
deals with the Clubmen, 168. 



338 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Cromwell, Oliver continued, 
his letter to the Speaker concerning 

Sussex garrisons, 172. 
his share in the New Model, 175. 
his argument with Manchester, 217. 
overrules John Downes at the King's 

trial, 219. 

absolutism forced on, 225. 
consistently supported by Anthony 

Stapley, 227. 
abolishes the grievanceof free-quarter, 

228. 
regulates the position of disbanded 

soldiers, 230. 
the expansion of England begun 

under, 244. 

defeats Charles II at Worcester, 252. 
his bid for the world's trade, 272. 
tradition of his visits to Blackdown 

House, 276. 

he "expects conformity," 286. 
his treatment of the Quakers, 293. 
his dealings with the "public min- 
istry," 293. 

his summons to John Stapley, 299. 
his death and funeral, 304. 
his descendants in Sussex, 325. 
Cromwell, Richard, his succession, 

34- 

his abdication, 306. 
escapes from Lewes, 321. 
Crow, Sir Sackville, ironfounder, 9. 
Cruso, Dr. Aquila, 143. 
Cuckfield, the vicar of, 26. 
Cuckmere, a port in mediaeval times, 

ii. 
Culpepper, Colonel, at Brighthelm- 

stone, 308, 315. 
at Lewes, 326. 

Culpeppers, the, a Royalist family, 4. 
Curry, Mr. Daniel, 295. 

Dacre, Francis, Lord, his letter to 

Lord Grey of Werke, 207. 
opposes the King's trial, 208. 
his household at Herstmonceux, 208. 
his guests, 209. 
the first of English yachtsmen, 210. 



goes abroad, 211. 

relieved of office of Vice-Admiral, 

226. 

Dallington, the incumbent of, sequest- 
ered, 142. 

Daniell, innkeeper of Rye, 23. 
Danny, the mansion of, 14. 

purchased by Peter Courthope, 134. 

the descent of, 134. 

the Campions of, 134, 193, 325. 
Dawes, John, 211. 
Decimation tax, the, 283. 
Deering, Sir Edward, 66. 
Denny, Henry and Edward, 245. 
D'Ewes, the diarist, makes his will, 

21. 

Didling, the living of, 294. 
Digby, Lord, 176. 

his correspondence captured, 182. 
Disbanded soldiers, the hard case of, 

230. 

Ditchling, 49. 
Dives, Sir Lewis, 168. 
Dixie, Colonel, at Arundel, 88. 
Dod, widow, 86. 
Donnington Castle, 172. 
Dorset, Earl of, 20, 32, 188. 
Dorsetshire, Sussex troops employed 

in, 1 60. 

Dover, the, built at Shoreham, 277. 
Downes, John, purchases the palace at 

Chichester, 56. 
member of Sussex SequestratingCom- 

mittee, 120. 

patron of the living of Cowfold, 144. 
regicide, his conduct at the King's 

trial, 221. 

his dispute with John Fry, 224. 
member of Council of State, 309. 
his trial and condemnation, 317. 
Dragon, fable of a, in St. Leonard's 

Forest, 7. 

Drayton, his lament over the destruc- 
tion of timber, 10. 
Dumbrell, John, the wife of, 27. 
Duncton. See Runcton. 
Dusseville, Bonaventure, 62. 
Dyke, William, of Frant, 297. 



INDEX 



339 



Eager, Stephen, 292. 

Eastbourne Place, searched for papers, 

300. 
East Dean, 129. 

the living of, 294. 
Eastergate, Clubmen from, 170. 
East Grinstead, Assizes held at, 7. 
the incumbent of, sequestered, 142. 
the living augmented, 295. 
Edmonds, Thomas, 208. 
Edsawe, Rev. John, of Chayley, fined 

on Oxford Articles, 136. 
Edward the Confessor, and the Sussex 

ports, 10. 

Elizabeth, Queen, at Cowdray, 14. 
Elsmore, Captain, 307. 
Engagement, the, of 1650, 226. 
Erie, Sir William, 67. 
Essex, Earl of, complains of their 

weakness in cavalry, 35. 
grants commission as Major-General 

to Waller, 91. 

Evelyn, John, his father's estate, 15. 
his views of Dutch diplomacy, 183. 
his visit to Rye, 266. 
at the Protector's funeral, 304. 
endeavours to persuade Morley to re- 
store Charles II, 313. 
procures Morley's pardon, 314. 
and the Sussex gentry's address to 

Charles II, 316. 

Everden (or Everenden), Captain 
Walter, Cheynell's character of, 

79- 

left in charge of Bramber, 86. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating 

Committee, 120. 
and the manufacture of gunpowder, 

277. 

one of Goffe's commissioners, 288. 
Everden, Mr., of Lewes, 275. 
Eversfield, Sir Thomas, member of 
Sussex Sequestrating Committee, 
1 20. 

his own estate sequestered, 120. 
Excise, levied on goods of all kinds, 

205. 
Exeter Articles of Surrender, 131, 135. 



Exton, Robert, Mayor of Chichester, 

36. 
fined, 130. 

Fagge, Colonel John, a commissioner 

to try the King, 219. 
his reliance on Colonel Morley, 288, 

290. 

member for the county in 1659, 305. 
in command of Sussex Militia, 307. 
governor of Portsmouth, 313. 
created a baronet, 315. 
his descendants, 325. 
Fairfax, Sir T., pleads for Colonel 

Gounter and others, 126. 
and the New Model, 163, 174. 
petition to concerning free-quarter, 

165. 

and the Clubmen, 167. 
difficulty of raising men for in Sussex, 

171. 

Commander-in-Chief, 1 75. 
Families, division of, in the Civil War, 

190. 

Farley, Rev. John, of Clayton, 26. 
Farrenden (or Farnden), Peter, iron- 
master, 241, 275. 
Farrington, John, 127. 
Fecamp Abbey, 1 1 . 
Fenwick, Major, 288. 
Ferrers, Samuel, 177. 
Filder, Edward, 222. 
Finch, SirJ., 241. 
Findon, Cavaliers at, 85. 
Ford, Sir Edward, raises troop of horse, 

34. 

High Sheriff, 42. 
seizes Chichester, 42. 
his arrest ordered by Parliament, 47. 
defeated at Hayward's Heath, 49. 
neglects defence of Arundel, 51. 
besieged by Waller at Chichester, 52. 
surrenders the city, 53. 
sent prisoner to London, 55. 
endeavours to raise troops in Sussex, 

66. 

commands a regiment of horse under 
Hopton, 72. 



340 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Ford, Sir Edward continued. 

captures Arundel, 72. 

besieged by Waller, 86. 

surrenders the castle, 93. 

his subsequent career, 97. 

"a chief delinquent," 158. 

his interest with Cromwell through 
his brother-in-law Ireton, 191. 

visited by Thomas Coke, 228. 
Ford, Sir William, with his son Edward 
at Chichester, 45. 

taken prisoner, 55. 

his residence, Up Park, 70. 

petitions Parliament, 97. 
Fords, "some of the," 170. 
Foster, Mr. Thos., 299. 
Fowles, the, enriched by the iron in- 
dustry, 9. 

Fox, George, visits Sussex, 292. 
Fox, William, of Hailsham, 2J. 
Fray, Jurat of Hastings, 149. 
Free-quarter, the grievance of, abol- 
ished by Cromwell, 228. 
Freeman, Captain William, 197. 

member for Horsham in 1659, 305. 

one of GofTe's commissioners, 288. 
Frewen, Accepted, 19. 

eldest son of Rev. John Frewen, 
24. 

his early career, 239. 

Archbishop of York, 240. 
Frewen, Benjamin, 240. 
Frewen, Rev. John, rector of Northiam, 
threatened by John Snepp, 24. 

indicted for non-conformity, 25. 

proceeds against Robert Creswell for 
insulting him, 25. 

his epitaph, 238. 

his descendants, 325. 
Frewen, Stephen, 239. 
Frewen, Thankfull, 24. 
Frottier, John, 62. 
Fuller, Captain, 75. 

left in charge of Bramber, 86. 
Fullers, the, enriched by the iron in- 
dustry, 9. 
Funtington, 295. 
Fursby, John, 292. 



Gage, Sir Edward, 131. 
Gage, Sir Henry, soldier of fortune, his 
early career, 242. 

governor of Oxford, 19, 243. 

relieves Basing House, 160. 
Gage, Sir Thomas, ofFirle, 131. 
Gage, Thomas, his romantic career, 

243- 

Gage, William, of Framfield, 131. 
Gages, the, a Royalist family, 4. 
Galloway, Ambrose and Elizabeth, 291. 
Geers, the, of Ovingdean, 262. 
Gerard, Sir George, 182. 
Gerard, Lord, 228. 
Gibbons, Major, ordered to Horsham, 

198. 

defeats Norton at Rye, 204. 
in command of troops at Rye, 307, 

310. 

Gildridge, Mr. Nic., 299. 
Gilliat, Lewis, and his son Claude, 

269. 

Glemham, Sir Thomas, 186. 
Glynde, civil marriages at, 286. 

the descent of, 325. 
Godalming, Waller's soldiers at, 68. 
Godfrey, Francis, of Rye, 23. 
Goffe, John, son of the rector of Stan- 

mer, 180. 
Goffe, Mr. Richard, incumbent of East 

Grinstead, sequestered, 143. 
at Rotherfield, 147. 
Goffe, Rev. Stephen, rector of Stan- 

mer, 179. 

Goffe, Stephen, D.D., 19. 
eldest son of the rector of Stanmer, 

180. 

his early life, 1 80. 
sent to Holland by the King, 181. 
failure of his negotiations, 184. 
his subsequent career, 184. 
Goffe, William, son of the rector of 

Stanmer, 179. 

signs the King's death-warrant, 220. 
Major-General of Sussex, Hamp- 
shire, and Berkshire, 283. 
arrives at Lewes, 284. 
and Colonel Morley, 285. 



INDEX 



Goffe, William continued. 
his Commissioners for Securing the 

Peace, 288. 
exempted from the Act of Indemnity, 

320. 

escapes to America, 320. 
Goldsmiths' Hall, the Committee at, 

121. 
Goring, Charles, succeeds his father as 

Earl of Norwich, 250. 
Goring, Diana, wife of Henry, 92. 
Goring, George, of Ovingdean, son of 
Sir William Goring, of Burton, 
245. 
Goring, George, Lord, governor of 

Portsmouth, 37. 
intrigues with both parties, 37. 
declares for the King, 38. 
surrenders on terms, 40. 
his designs on Sussex, 162. 
his reputation for plundering, 167. 
in Paris, 183. 

his career during the war, 246. 
Clarendon's view of his character, 37, 

246. 

his service and death in Spain, 249. 
Goring, George, Earl of Norwich, his 

part in the Civil War, 37. 
his estate of Danny, 134, 245, 249. 
relations with the Queen, 183. 
his connection with Anthony Stapley, 

191. 

at the siege of Colchester, 193, 248. 
his- mother, Anne Denny, 228 ., 

245- 
ambassador for the King to France, 

246. 

his letter to Lady Campion, 248. 
tried for high treason, 249. 
Goring, John, of Amberley, 129. 
Goring, Sir W., member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
Gorings, the, of Burton, supporters of 

the Parliament, 5. 
Gorings, the, of Danny, a Royalist 

family, 4. 
Gott, Samuel, 241. 
Goulding, Captain, 51. 



Counter (or Gunter), Colonel George, 

of Rackton, at Chichester, 45. 
taken prisoner by Waller, 56. 
compounds on Truro Articles, 126. 
arrested at Chichester, 127. 
and Coke's plot, 228. 
his narrative of Charles II's escape, 

253- 
his family rewarded, 261. 

Gounter (or Gunter), Captain Thomas, 

at Chichester, 45. 
taken prisoner by Waller, 56. 
and Charles II, 254. 

Gratwick, James, sequestrator of Hors- 
ham vicarage, 137. 

Gratwick, Roger, abstains from sitting 
at the King's trial, 219. 

Gratwick, William, of Torton, 328. 

Gratwicks, the, supporters of the Par- 
liament, 5. 
enriched by the iron industry, 9. 

Graves, Mr., 299. 

Graves, Sackville, 303, 308. 

Gravetye, the mansion of, 14. 

Greenwood, Mr. , preacher at Rye, 23. 

Gregory, Rev. John, 57. 

Gresham, James, 37. 

Grey of Werke, Lord, 100, 207. 

Gyles, Mr., 29. 

Haberdashers' Hall, the Committee at, 

133- 
Hall, Edmund, of Lullington, 27. 

Hall, Mr., 299. 

Halnaker, the mansion of, 258. 

Halsey, Mr., rector of East Dean, 140. 

Hampton Court, the King at, 187. 

Hangleton, horse-race at, 232. 

Harbours, decay of Sussex, II. 

Harley, Sir Robert, 67. 

Harlow, Sir Robert, 133. 

Harsnett, Bishop, his interrogatories to 

the Chapter of Chichester, 25. 
Harting, Hop ton at, 71. 
HartingPlacegarrisoned byHopton,72. 
Harting, South, population of, in 1641, 

1 8. 
a fight at, 69. 



342 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Haselrig, Sir Arthur, with Waller 

before Chichester, 52. 
takes part in the spoliation of the 

cathedral, 57. 

revisits Chichester in 1647, 60. 
his troops and free-quarter, 166. 
acts with Morley in London and at 

Portsmouth, 311. 

Haslemere, occupied by Waller, 82. 
Hastings, shipment of " billets " from, 

10. 

destruction of the pier at, II. 
rated for ship-money, 14. 
Colonel Morley at, 148. 
Ashburnham holds a barque in readi- 
ness at, 1 88. 
the Marquis of Ormonde escapes 

from, 1 88. 
a clerk of the passage appointed at, 

188. 
importance of the North Sea Fishery 

to, 270. 

the Dutch fleet off, 274. 
port of shipment for iron-shot, 275. 
the Cat ordered to protect the fisher- 
men of, 279. 
the True Love frigate, to do the 

same, 280. 
dismay of, at the capture of the Cat, 

280. 
Havant, Waller advances by, 50. 

Hopton retires towards, 91. 
Hay, Herbert, of Glyndbourne, mem- 
ber of Sussex Sequestrating Com- 
mittee, 1 20. 

appointed Deputy-Lieutenant, 156. 
and Major-General Goffe, 288. 
Hay of Glyndbourne, a Roundhead 

family, 5. 

Hayes, Mr., Justice of the Peace, 31. 
Hayne, of Brighthelmstone, 64. 
Hayward's Heath, fight at, 48. 
Head, Colonel, at Arundel, 88. 
Heath, Robert, his two sons at Chi- 
chester, 45. 
Heathfield, 124. 
Heaves, John, 27. 
Heene, the St. James stranded at, 151. 



Henchman, Dr., 254. 
Henley, Captain, 269. 
Henrietta Maria, Queen, urges Charles 
to attempt the arrest of the five 
members, 3. 
sends Ford to discover the aims of 

the army, 98. 
Chillingworth accused of being her 

spy, 105. 
Cheynell's view of her influence, 

106. 

her intrigues with Mazarin, 182. 
her strained relations with the Gor- 

ings, 183. 

Stephen Goffe her chaplain, 184. 
Henshaw, Rev. Dr., Canon of Chi- 
chester, 39. 

fined on Exeter Articles, 135. 
Herstmonceux Castle, the household 

accounts of, 207. 
Hewitt, Dr., and the plot of 1658, 296. 

tried and executed, 302. 
Higgons, Captain Edward, parliament- 
ary leader at Chichester, 42. 
his letter to the Speaker from Ports- 
mouth, 43. 
placed in charge of the contents of 

Cowdray House, 83. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating 

Committee, 120. 

Hill, Rev. Mr. , vicar of Felpham, 28. 
Hinson, Mr., curate of All Saints', 

Hastings, 149. 
Hippesley, Tom, 249. 
Hoadley, Bishop, on Dr. Cheynell, 

140. 
Hoge, or Hogge, Ralph, ironfounder, 

9- 

Holland, William, of West Burton, 
189. 

Holies, leader of the Dorset Clubmen, 
167. 

Honeywood, Lieutenant, 200. 

Hooke, Rev. Thomas, fined, 136. 

Hopkins, Lieut., 300. 

Hopton, Lord, his forces in Hamp- 
shire, 69. 
advances into Sussex, 71. 



INDEX 



343 



Hopton, Lord continued. 
captures Stanstead, Cowdray, and 

Arundel, 72. 
leaves Ford in command of Arundel 

Castle, 84. 
dissensions at his head-quarters at 

Winchester, 88. 
marches to attack Waller at Arundel, 

89. 
being outnumbered retires to Havant, 

91. 

besieges Warblington Castle, 92. 
writes concerning Waller's advance, 

95- 

Chillingworth takes refuge with, 103. 
Horsemonden, ironworks at, 176. 
Horses, export of, from Rye, 268. 
Horsham, assizes sometimes held at, 7. 
a fabulous monster near, 7. 
population of, in 1641-2, 17. 
Colonel Apsley's ride to, 74. 
Thomas Middleton, M.P. for, 80. 
petition of, for removal of Mr. Con- 

yers, minister, 136. 
Mr. Chatfield, lecturer at, 137. 
affray at Nuthurst near, 166. 
rising at, 197. 
letter from, describing events at, 

198. 
captured by Sir Michael Livesay, 

2OI. 

punishment of those concerned, 202. 
Collyer's School at, 241. 
Quakers in gaol at, 292. 
Horsted Parva, the rector of, seques- 
tered, 142. 
Houghton Bridge, Charles II crosses, 

259- 

Hounds, export of, from Rye, 268. 
Hounsell, Mark, 204. 
Howard, Mr. Henry, 228. 
Howsell, Anne, 8. 
Hudson, Dr., 186. 
Humanity, the, with which the Civil 

War was conducted, 89. 
Hurst, 49. 

Hurstpierpoint, manor of, 24$, 249. 
Hussey, George, 292. 



Hutchinson, George, of Cuckfield, at 

Hangleton race, 232. 
concerned in Stapley's plot, 297. 

Ifield, Quaker meeting at, 291. 

George Fox at, 292. 
Independents, the, principles of, 175. 
Ireton, his connection with Sir E. 

Ford, 53, 97. 

Irishmen in Hopton's army, 88. 
Ironworks, the Sussex, of national im- 
portance, 8. 
number of furnaces and forges at the 

time of the Civil War, 9. 
occasion great destruction of timber, 

10. 
the works in St. Leonard's forest 

captured by Waller, 94. 
importance of, to the Parliament, 

96, 175- 

the Brownes of Brede and Horse- 
monden, 35, 175. 

output of guns, etc., for the army 
and navy, 176. 

activity of, during the Dutch war, 

275- 
visit of Thomas Newberry to, 275. 

Jeake, Samuel, of Rye, 78. 

and the Rye petition to Fairfax, 214. 
Jenner, Captain Thomas, 288. 
Jennings, Rev. Mr., inhibited, 29. 
Jermyn, Lord, his correspondence with 

Stephen Goffe, 181. 
Jerome, a Frenchman, 65. 
Jones, Edward, senior and junior, of 

Rye, the wives of, 27. 
Jones, Mr., of Brecon, 305. 
Juxon, John, citizen of London, 221. 
Juxon, John, of Albourne Place, 223. 

created a baronet, 315. 
Juxon, Richard, of Chichester, 221. 
Juxon, Thomas, 221. 
Juxon, William, Bishop of London, 19. 

accompanies the King to the scaffold, 

221. 

a native of Chichester, 221. 
his early career, 222. 



344 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Juxon, William, Bishop of London 

continued. 
tradition of his concealment at Al- 

bourne Place, 223. 
appointed Archbishop of Canterbury 

at the Restoration, 224. 
patron of John Selden, 234. 

Keely, Captain, 59. 

Kemp, Sir Garrett, of Slindon, fined, 

131- 

his journey to Spa, 132. 
Kemp, Thomas, fined, 132. 
Key, William, shipowner of Rye, 269, 

287. 

Killingbeck, Humphrey, 291. 
King, Dr. Henry. See Chichester, 

Bishop of. 

King, John, the bishop's son, 45. 
King, Philip, the bishop's brother, 45. 
Kingly Bottom, 257. 
Kirkford, population of, in 1641-2, 18. 
Knight, Mr., 74. 
Knowles, Richard, 288. 

Lambert, his encounter with Morley, 

3". 

Large, Rev. John, Rector of Rother- 

field, 30. 

the case of his sequestration, 144. 
his able defence, 145. 

Laud, Archbishop, 28. 

Lawrence, Henry, his letter to the 

Justices of Sussex, 286. 
his instructions concerning Quakers, 
292. 

Lawcock, Thomas, 291. 

Lawson, Thomas, 291. 

Lechford, Sir Richard, 51. 

Leeds, Thomas, M.P. for Steyning, 
expelled from the House of Com- 
mons, 43. 

Captain of the horse for Arundel 
Rape, 45. 

Legge, William, 187, 190. 

Leighton, Captain, 74. 

Livesay, Sir Michael, joins Waller be- 
fore Chichester, 52. 



at Arundel, 87. 
takes Horsham, 222. 
Lewes, shipment of iron from, 9. 
Herbert Morley elected member for, 

1 6. 

Protestant martyrs at, 22. 
proceedings in Archdeaconry Court 

at, 26. 
Sir Nathaniel Brent holds a visitation 

at, 29. 

Anthony Stapley's influence at, 31. 
order for providing for safety of town 

of, 40. 

ordnance sent to, 41. 
Sir Edward Ford marches to attack, 

48. 
letter to the Speaker from Colonel 

Morley at, 64. 
the Committee at, inform Parliament 

of the Royalist invasion, 73. 
a present sent to Waller from, 94. 
local Committee of Plundered Minis- 
ters at, 138. 
John Aylwine, collector for the 

Parliament at, 156. 
Sir Thos. Pelham writes to the House 

from, concerning the rising at 

Horsham, 198. 
Captain Shephard retires to, from 

Horsham, 200. 
letter from, concerning the Dutch 

depredations, 274. 
Mr. Everden, ironmaster, of, 275. 
Major-General Goffe at, 284. 
John and Anthony Stapley the 

younger at, 285. 
one Rose of, suspected a papist, 

287. 

Quakers at, 287. 
activity of Anthony Stapley in the 

Royalist plot at, 297. 
" perverseness " of, in 1663, 316. 
Richard Cromwell and Edmund Lud- 

low escape from, 321. 
a fracas at, 326. 
Lewknor, Christopher, member for 

Chichester, 16. 
Recorder of Chichester, 39. 



INDEX 



345 



Lewknor, Christopher continued. 
arranges terms of surrender at Ports- 
mouth, 40. 

expelled from the House of Com- 
mons, 43. 

made prisoner by Waller, 56. 
Lewknor, Frey, 129. 
Lewknor, John, the hard case of; his 

estate sequestered, 128. 
livings augmented by, 294. 
Lewknor, Mary, fined, 129. 
Lewknor, Thomas, of Amberley, fined, 

129. 

Lewknor, Mr. , and Coke's plot, 228. 
Lieutenancy of the Tower, Lunsford 

appointed to the, 19. 
Morley appointed to the, 312. 
Lindsay, Captain, 52. 
Livings, augmentation of, 294. 
Lorraine, the Duke of, 182, 184. 
Ludlow, Edmund, escapes from Lewes, 

321. 

Lumley, John, 131. 
Lumley, Viscount, fined, 131. 

and Coke's plot, 228. 
Lunsford, Sir Herbert, accompanies 

the King from London, 21. 
commands a regiment, 245. 
Lunsford, Sir Thomas, appointed Lieu- 
tenant of the Tower, 19. 
his early career, 19. 
dismissed and knighted, 20. 
accompanies the King from London, 

21. 
admitted to compound for his estate, 

130- 

popular beliefs concerning, 244. 
his later career, 245. 
Lunsfords, the, a Royalist family, 4. 
Lyme, pier-builders from, II. 

Madgwick, Captain Edward, 288. 
Major-Generals, the, 283. 
Mallory, Captain Henry, at Hangle- 
ton race, 232. 

and the plot of 1658, 297. 

his trial, 302. 
Manning, Richard, 288. 



Mansel, Francis, his part in Charles 

II's escape, 255. 
Samuel Pepys' account of, 262. 
Marden, Hopton at, 71. 
Marian persecution, the, 22. 
Markwick, Mr. Will, 299. 
Marlett, William, 222. 
Marriages before a Justice of the Peace, 

286. 
Marshall, Thomas, Mayor of Rye, 

310. 
May, Thomas, the poet: his birth, 

career, and untimely death, 237. 
May, Thomas, of Rawmere, 4, 15. 
expelled from the House of Com- 
mons, 43. 
at Chichester, 45. 
made prisoner by Waller, 56. 
compounds for his estate, 123. 
Mayfield, 237. 
Maynard, Mr. John, Puritan divine, 

29, 137. 

Mazarin, Cardinal, 182. 
Merston, 295. 
Michelbourne, William, patron of Hor- 

sted Keynes, 212. 
his wife Anne, 212. 
Michelbourne, William and Thomas, 

supporters of the Parliament, $ 
appointed Deputy- Lieutenants, 156. 
Michell, Edward, 292. 
Michell, John, of Stammerham, 222. 
Michell, Thomas, 222. 
Middleton, Lieut. -General John, 271. 
Middleton, Thomas, member for Hors- 

ham, 16. 

articles formulated against, 80. 
scare in London caused by, 80. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating 

Committee, 120. 
sequestrator of Horsham vicarage, 

137- 

appointed Deputy-Lieutenant, 156. 

arrested and sent to London, 202. 

his estate sequestered, but finally re- 
stored, 203. 

regarded as possible Royalist con- 
spirator, 228. 



346 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Midhurst, population of in 1641-2, 18. 
Waller's troops at, 67, 82. 
the living augmented, 295. 
Mildmay, Henry, 313. 
Militia ordinance, the, 36. 
Mills, John, 133. 
Milnes, Mr., 299. 
Monk, General, 311, 313. 
Montagu, Admiral, 311. 
Montague, Lord, one of his servants 

apprehended, 64. 
his estate sequestered, 131. 
a visitor at Herstmonceux, 209. 
Montague, Mr., takes Colonel Apsley 

prisoner, 77. 

Montreuil, the French ambassador, 187. 
Mordaunt, John, 302. 
More, Sir Poynings, 37. 
Morley, Colonel Herbert, of Glynde, 

parliamentarian, 5. 
Member of Parliament for Lewes, 

1640, 1 6. 

raises troops of horse, 34. 
his influence in East Sussex, 40. 
entrusted by the House with the de- 
fence of the county, 40. 
exempted from the King's proclama- 
tion of pardon, 42. 
at the siege of Chichester, 52. 
writes to the Speaker concerning 

Sussex affairs, 64. 
at Farnham, 66. 
defence of East Sussex by against 

Lord Hopton, 73. 
at the siege of Arundel, 87. 
joint governor of Arundel Castle, 

95- 

member of Sussex Sequestra ting Com- 
mittee, 1 20. 

at Hastings, 148. 

his letter to the Speaker as to the 
picture found in the Si. James, 

'S3- 

in command of the besiegers of Basing 
House, 158. 

his correspondence with Lord Win- 
chester, 159. 

wounded in the shoulder, 159. 



his motto, 1 60. 

instructed to prepare for the defence 

of Cowdray, Arundel, and Chi- 
chester, 161. 

suppresses the Clubmen, 169. 
his friendly correspondence with 

Sir William Campion, 191. 
endeavours to remove the magazine 

of Horsham to Arundel, 197. 
a Commissioner to try the King, 219. 
declines to sign the death-warrant, 

219. 

" almost a malcontent," 227. 
assists John Evelyn at Rye, 266. 
procures a frigate to protect the Rye 

fishing fleet, 271. 
inquires into Middleton's escape, 

272. 

visited by Major-General Goffe, 285. 
his local activity, 286. 
his "terrible fit of gout," 290. 
returns to politics after Oliver's death, 

SOS- 

admiralty commissioner, 306. 

a commissioner for the army, 311. 

forcibly resists Lambert, 311. 

retires to Portsmouth, 312. 

marches on London with Haselrig 
and Walton, 312. 

Lieutenant of the Tower, 312. 

urged by John Evelyn to bring in 
Charles II, 312. 

fined and pardoned at the Restora- 
tion, 314. 

his character, 314. 

perhaps assisted Ludlow's escape 

from Lewes, 321. 
Morley, Sir John, at Chichester, 44. 

made prisoner by Waller, 55. 

obtains a protection order on pay- 
ment of a fine, 55, 120. 

compounds for his estate, 123. 
Morley, Captain William, his rendez- 
vous with Colonel Apsley, 75. 

disperses the Clubmen, 169. 

Charles II avoids encountering, 259. 
Morley, Sir William, of Halnaker, 4. 

his origin, 15. 



INDEX 



347 



Morley, Sir William, of Halnaker 

continued. 

member for Chichester, 16. 
at Chichester, 39, 45. 
expelled from the House of Commons, 

43- 

made prisoner by Waller, 55. 
the treatment of his estate, 63. 
Moore, Rev. Giles, rector of Horsted 

Keynes, extracts from his journal, 

211. 

Mowbray, Lord, 50. 
Moyle, Mr., of Cornwall, 80. 
Mullet, John, 287. 
Mundham, North, 123. 

Navy, the, value to the Parliament of 

its adherence, 264. 
Naylor, John, of Slaugham, 27. 
Naylor, Mr., a clergyman, 299. 
Needle-makers, ruin of, at Chichester, 

61. 

Netherway, Mr., 125. 
Nevill, Edward, Lord Abergavenny, 

246. 

Nevilles, the, enriched by the iron in- 
dustry, 9. 

New Burgh (Hastings), 10. 
New Model, the, 36. 

Sussex contribution to, 163. 
the basis of, 1 74. 
Newberry, Thomas, 275. 
Newbury, battle of, its effect on Sussex, 

161. 
Sussex troops for the garrison at, 

172. 

Newcomb, Mr., 141. 
Newhaven, shipment of iron from, 9. 
ordnance removed from, 41. 
trade in arms with Weymouth, 65. 
French troops to land at, 183. 
shipping belonging to, 310. 
Newport, Earl of, 20. 
North Marden Down, 91. 
Northampton, Earl of, Lord Warden 

of the Cinque Ports, 8. 
a search for, 309. 
Northiam, 24, 238. 



Northumberland, Algernon Percy, Earl 

of, " the proudest man alive," 4. 
his great losses, 206. 
Lord High Admiral, 264. 
Norton, Colonel, takes Southsea Castle, 

40. 

at South Harting, 70. 
attacks Cavaliers near Havant, 91. 
at the siege of Basing House, 158. 
and the Clubmen, 169. 
his warning to Sussex, 171. 
Norton, Mr., churchwarden of Rye, 29. 
Norton, Major Anthony, his rising at 

Rye, 203. 
charged with using scandalous words, 

204. 
Norton, Sir Gregory, signs the King's 

death-warrant, 220. 
Norton, Sir Richard, his house at 

Rotherfield, 164. 
Nottingham, Lord, 209. 
Nuthurst, affray at, 166. 

Quaker meeting at, 291. 
Nutt, Mr. John, incumbent of Bexhill, 

sequestered, 143. 
Nye, Philip, independent preacher, 

241. 

Nye, Rev. Mr., rector of Clapham, 28, 
137, 241. 

Oglander, George, member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
Older, Nathan, Mayor of Arundel, 96. 
Orange, the Prince of, letter from 

Charles to, 181. 
his negotiations with Stephen Goffe, 

182. 

his children, 183. 
his views on sea-power, 264. 
Ormonde, Marquis of, his escape from 

Hastings, 188. 
escapes again from the Sussex coast, 

303- 

Osborne, Edward, at Chichester, 45. 
Oughtred, Dr. William, 135. 
Ovingdean Grange, the legend of, 

262. 
Oxenden, Henry, 241. 



348 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Oxford Articles of Surrender, 126. 
include dispensation from taking the 

covenant, 135. 
Oxford, the King's flight from, 186. 

Pagham, a port in mediaeval times, 
n. 

the protestation return from, 17. 
Parker, Henry, 238. 
Parker, Sir Thomas, of Ratton, charged 
with the defence of Sussex, 42. 

accused of disaffection, 161. 

his daughter, Lady Campion, 193. 
Partridge, Sir Edward, 112. 
Patcham, Stapley's house at, 297. 
Patching, Thomas, 292. 
Payne, James, of Eastbourne, 27. 
Pearse, William, 203. 
Peckham, Mr., vicar of Horsted Parva, 

139. 

sequestered, 142. 

Peckham, Mr., a leader of the Club- 
men, 170. 
Pelham, H., member for Chichester in 

1659. 305- 
Pelham, Peregrine, signs the King's 

death-warrant, 220. 
Pelham, Sir Thomas, member for the 

county, 1 6. 

beset by Thomas Lunsford, 19. 
charged with the defence of Sussex, 

42. 

his letter to the Speaker, 66. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating Com- 
mittee, 1 20. 

accused of disaffection, 161. 
informs the Speaker of the rising at 

Horsham, 198. 
his descendants, 325. 
Pelhams, the, supporters of the Parlia- 
ment, 5. 

enriched by the iron industry, 9. 
Pell, John, mathematician and diplo- 
matist, 241. 

Pellet, John, of Arundel, 326. 
Pembroke and Montgomery, Earl of, 

201. 
Penington, Isaac, no. 



Penn, Springet, HI. 
Penruddock's rising, 282. 
Petersfield, Hopton at, 71, 89. 
Petitions to Parliament of February 
1642, 18. 

from Surrey and Sussex in 1648, 196. 

from Rye to Fairfax, 215. 
Petre, Lord, arrested, 308. 
Petworth, population of in 1641-2, 17. 

Cavalier raid on, 69. 

garrisoned by Hopton, 72. 

Clubmen from, 170. 
Petworth, the living of, 56. 

Dr. Cheynell obtains, 139. 

Mr. Oliver Whitby, curate of, 141. 
Pevensey, a port in mediaeval times, 

II. 

Philips, Colonel, of Montacute, 256. 
Pickering, Mr. Benjamin, Puritan 

divine, 137. 
Pierce, Captain, 269. 
Pierce, Thomas, of Bosham, 133. 
Pierson, Richard, 177. 
Pinozeire, a trader in ammunition, 66. 
Pittock, Captain Richard, 279. 
Plundered Ministers, Committee of, 136. 

appoints County Committees, 138. 
Poling, John, 288. 
Popham, Colonel Edward, 268. 
Population of parishes in West Sussex 

in 1641-2, 17. 
Porter, Endymion, 72. 
Portslade, the Rye troop at, 79. 
Portsmouth, held by George Goring, 

37- 
besieged by Warwick and Waller, 

38. 

surrendered, 40. 
its loss a blow to the Royal cause, 

40. 

parliamentary anxiety concerning, 67. 
surrendered to Colonel Morley, 312. 
Colonel Fagge, governor of, 313. 
Potter, Lieutenant- Colonel, 52. 
Preston, near Brighthelmstone, Judith, 

widow of Sir Richard Shirley, 

buried at, 7. 
Cheynell buried at, 109. 



INDEX 



349 



Preston, near Brighthelmstone con- 
tinued. 

Anthony Shirley of, 5, 286, 305. 
the Shirleys of, 288. 
the Court Rolls of the manor of, 

285 n. 
Preston-cum-Hove, civil marriages at, 

286. 

Preva, Sir John, no. 
Prince, Robert, 59. 

Prisoners of war, their readiness to 
take service with their captors, 86, 

95- 

Protestation of 1641, 17. 
Pulborough, population of in 1641-2, 

18. 

rising at, 199. 

Pury, Francis, at Chichester, 45. 
Pye, Uncle, 86. 

Pym, his hopes of conciliation, 1 6. 
Charles' attempt to arrest, 20. 

Quakers, the, disorderly conduct of, 

290. 

rise of, in Sussex, 291. 
sufferings of, 292. 
Cromwell's clemency to, 293. 

Racton, 253. 

Ramsay, Lieut.-Colonel, killed at 

Arundel, 85. 
Ravenscroft, Hall, member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
and the sequestration of Horsham 

vicarage, 137. 
Rayman, Mr., arrested at Chichester, 

127. 

Rede, Robert, joiner, of Rye, 23. 
Reeves [or Ryves], Dr. Bruno, Dean 

of Chichester, fined, 57. 
his account of the spoliation of the 

cathedral, 57. 

compounds on Oxford Articles, 135. 
Regicides, the Sussex, 220. 

fate of, 317. 
Rich, Colonel, 198. 
Ringmer, Springate interred at, 118. 
Rishton, William, at Chichester, 45. 



Rivers, Mr., Justice of the Peace, his 
strong following at Lewes, 31. 

Rivers, Mr., and Stapley's plot, 298. 

Rivers, Sir Thomas, Bart. , J. P. , ordered 
to keep watch on all strangers, 
287. 

Roads in Sussex, notorious badness of, 6. 
" deep and dirty ways," 71. 
Lady Springate's journey over, 115. 

Robartes, Lord, his coach at Newbury, 
114. 

Roberts, Colonel, 53. 

Robinson, Thomas, 291. 

Robotham, Mr., 295. 

Rolfe, Sergeant, 79. 

Rose, , of Lewes, 287. 

Rotherfield, Mr. Large and the living 

of, 144. 

Sir Richard Norton's house at, 164. 
John Cawley presented to the living 
of, 302. 

Rottingdean, powder sent to, 41. 

Rowkeshill, the Clubmen at, 169. 

Royal Oak, proposed Order of the, 
316. 

Rumboldswyke, 295. 

Runcton, 123. 

Runcton [? Duncton] Down, the Club- 
men at, 169. 

Rupert, Prince, his reputation for plun- 
dering, 35, 41. 
his advance on Chichester rumoured, 

47, 53- 

Russell, Mr., 29. 
Russell, John and Edward, 145. 
Rye, trials for witchcraft at, 8. 

shipment of iron and firewood from, 
9, 10. 

decay of harbour, 12. 

traffic of, with Dieppe, 13, 65. 

the passage-book, 13. 

privateers watch the harbour, 14. 

Puritans at, 23, 27, 29. 

foreigners resident at, 62. 

ordnance sent to Shoreham from, 73. 

lead removed from Camber Castle, 

73- 
the Rye troop at Arundel, 78, 85, 87. 



350 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Rye continued. 
abortive rising at, 203. 
petition to Fairfax, 214. 
the engagement, 226. 
grievance of as to free-quarter, 229. 
disbanded soldiers and other troubles 

at, 229. 

strict observance of Sunday at, 231. 
penalties for bad language at, 231. 
John Evelyn's visit to, 266. 
shipment of guns and ammunition for 

the fleet from, 269. 
smuggling at, 269. 
the North Sea fishery fleet of, 270. 
Blake in the bay at, 273. 
depredations of the Dutch fleet at, 

274. 

imprisonment of seamen at, 278. 
petition to the Protector from, 279. 
Colonel Morley elected member for, 

286. 

the vicarage augmented, 295. 
a town guard set at, 309. 
claim for moneys advanced by, to the 

garrison, 310. 
arrest of Henry Mildmay at, 313. 

Sackvile, Mr., 299. 

Sackvile, Thomas, of Sedlescomb, fined, 
128. 

St. James, the, of Dunkirk, stranded at 

Heene, 151. 
disposal of, 152. 
pictures found on board, 153. 
St. John, Oliver, 182, 227. 

Salisbury, Goring's winter quarters at, 
162. 

Salisbury, Rev. Mr., curate of Warning- 
camp, 28. 

Salvington, 234. 

Saxby, Mr., 140. 

Sea wen, Robert, 171. 

Sealed Knot, the, 282. 

Selden, John, his birth, career, and 
unique position, 234. 

Selden, John, and the Earl of Pem- 
broke, 201. 

Self-denying Ordinance, the, 174. 



Selsey, projected landing of foreign 

troops at, 182. 
Selwin, Mr., junior, 299. 
Shallett, Mr. Francis, at Chichester, 

44- 
Shelley, Sir Charles, of Michelgrove, 

his household goods, 133. 
his descendants, 326. 
Shelley, Henry, a supporter of the 

Parliament, 5. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating 

Committee, 120. 

appointed Deputy-Lieutenant, 156. 
Shelley, Colonel Henry, 133. 
Shelley, Sir John, 132. 
Shelley, John, of Sullington, 222. 
Shephard [or Sheppard], Nicholas, of 
Horsham, visited by Colonel Aps- 
ley, 74- 

and the rising at Horsham, 197, 200. 
Shipbuilding, value of Sussex oak for, 

10. 
Ship-money, assessment of Sussex ports 

for, 13. 
Shirley, Anthony, of Preston, civil 

marriages before, 286. 
one of Goffe's commissioners, 288. 
member for Steyning in 1659, 305. 
created a baronet, 315. 
Shirley, Judith, widow of Sir Richard, 

7- 
Shirley, Thomas, member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
Shirleys, the, of Preston, 288 ., 326. 
Shoarditch, Mr., 210. 
Shoreham, trade in firewood at, 10. 
its early importance, n. 
assessed for ship-money, 14. 
Captain Temple's defensive works 

at, 73- 

the Rye troop at, 79. 
Captain Temple left in charge of, 86. 
rising of peasants at, 201. 
the Dover built at, 277. 
sailors enlisted at, 307. 
Short, William, of Amberley, 129. 
Sidney, Algernon, appointed Governor 
of Chichester, 164. 



INDEX 



351 



Simpson, George, member of Sussex 

Sequestrating Committee, 120. 
Singleton, the living of, 294. 
Skippon, Sergeant- Major, 50. 
Slaugham, the mansion of, 14. 
Slee, John, 291. 
Slindon Park, 258. 
Slingsby, Sir Henry, 302. 
Smith, landlord of the George Inn at 

Brighthelmstone, 260. 
Smith, Captain Ambrose, 307. 
Smith, Richard, 88. 
Smuggling in the seventeenth century, 

269. 

Smyth, William, 241. 
Snepp, John, 24. 
Sommellier, Pierre, 62. 
Southover, Quaker meeting at, 291. 
South wick, Charles II embarks at, 260. 
Sowton, Thomas, 307. 
Speed, Rev. Mr., of St. Pancras, Chi- 

chester, 28, 295. 
Spence, William, 285. 
Springate [or Springett], Anthony, 117. 
Springate, Gulielma, wife of William 

Penn, no. 
Springate, Herbert, supporter of the 

Parliament, 5. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating 

Committee, 120. 
created a baronet, 315. 
Springate, Lady, no. 
her letter to her grandson, Springet 

Penn, in. 
her journey from London to Arundel, 

nS- 
her devoted attendance on her hus- 
band, 117. 
Springate, Sir Thomas, of Broyle Place, 

no, 112. 
Springate, Sir William, raises a troop 

of horse, 34. 
receives the thanks of the House, 

41. 

at the siege of Arundel, 87. 
left by Waller in charge of Arundel 

Castle, 95, 115. 
falls sick of a fever, 1 10. 



his wife's account of his parentage, 

up-bringing, and character, 113. 
his death, 117. 
Stamford, Lord, 209. 
Stane Street, 7. 
Stanes, Mr., 74. 
Stanford, Edward, of Slinfold, his 

descendants, 326. 

Stanmer, the Puritan rector of, 179. 
Stanstead House, captured by the 

Royalists, 72. 
surrendered to Waller, 94. 
Stapley, Anthony, the younger, put in 
the commission of the peace, 285. 
joins John Stapley's plot, 297. 
turns informer, 301. 
pardoned, 302. 

Stapley, Colonel Anthony, of Framfield 
and Patcham, Parliamentarian, 5. 
member for the county, 16. 
his aggressive Puritanism, 31. 
charged by the House with the de- 
fence of the county, 42. 
Governor of Chichester, 62. 
at Stanstead, 72. 
his disagreement with Waller, 95, 

IS7 n. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating 

Committee, 120. 
ordered to increase the Chichester 

garrison, 156, 162. 
succeeded at Chichester by Algernon 

Sidney, 164. 
his letter to the Speaker from Lewes, 

173- 
his connection with Lord Norwich, 

191. 

endeavours to remove the magazine 
of Horsham to Arundel, 197. 

imprisons Sussex petitioners, 199. 

one of the King's judges, 219. 

signs the death-warrant, 220. 

member of the Council of State, 225. 

Vice-Admiral of Sussex, 226. 

Commissioner of Somers Islands, 
227. 

visited by Thomas Newberry, 275. 

date of his death, 285 . 



352 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Stapley, John, at Hangleton race, 232. 

in command of a troop, 252. 

with Goffe at Lewes, 284. 

one of Goffe's commissioners, 288. 

influenced by his Royalist connec- 
tions, 296. 

joins Dr. Hewitt's plot, 297. 

his confession to Cromwell, 299. 

discloses the names of his associates, 
301. 

pardoned, 302. 

made a baronet, 315. 
Stevens, Captain Tristram, 65. 
Steyning, anciently a port, n. 

population of, in 1641-2, 18. 

rising of peasants at, 201. 

Quakers at, 292. 

Storrington, the incumbent of, se- 
questered, 142. 
Streater, ancient, 64. 
Studeley, Nathaniel, 285. 

one of Goffe's commissioners, 288. 
Sturt, Nicholas, 222. 
Sunday, the strict observance of, 230. 
Surprise, TettersalFs bark, renamed 

Royal Escape, 261. 
Surrenden, Captain, 75. 
Swanbourne Lake, 88. 
Swanley, Captain, 45. 
Symons, Thomas, of Hambledon, 256. 

Tabret, Abel, 271. 

Taunton, Mr. Richard, incumbent of 

Ardingley, sequestered, 142. 
Taylor, Anne, wife of George, 8. 
Taylor, John, of Itchenor, fined on 

Truro Articles, 126. 
Taylor, Richard, of Earnley, fined on 

Truro Articles, 126. 
Temple, Captain James, arranges the 

defences of Shoreham and Bramber, 

73- 

at Shoreham, 75. 
defends Bramber Castle and holds the 

bridge, 78. 

left in charge of Shoreham, 86. 
member of Sussex Sequestrating 

Committee, 120. 



guardian to Sir Charles Shelley, 133. 

signs the King's death-warrant, 220. 

his trial and condemnation, 317. 
Tenterden, 278. 

Tettersall, Nicholas, and the escape of 
Charles II, 256. 

his reward at the Restoration, 261. 
Thanet, Earl of, advances with Ford 
on Lewes, 48. 

passes from Brighthelmstone to 
France, 64. 

fined by Parliament, 124. 
Thomas, Mark, Deputy Mayor of Rye, 

29. 

Thompson, Maurice and Co., 152. 
Thorney Island, 46. 
Timber, Sussex thickly covered with, 5. 

use of in the ironworks, 9. 

wholesale destruction of, 10. 

value of, for shipbuilding, 10. 
Tobacco, planting of, restrained, 286. 
Tomlinson, Colonel, 220. 
Trained bands, the, 33. 
Trayton, Capt. Ambrose, 41. 
Tremblett, Edward, of Bosham, 133. 
Trevor, Sir John, a supporter of the 
Parliament, 5. 

member for Arundel, 290. 

member for Midhurst, 305. 
Triers, the, 293. 

Truro Articles of Surrender, 126. 
Tunbridge waters, the, 267. 
Twine, Rev. Mr., vicar of Rye, 30. 
Twineham, Quaker meeting at, 291. 

Up Park, a troop of horse quartered at, 

72. 
residence of the Fords, 97. 

Venables, General Robert, 244. 
Vere, Colonel Horace, 180. 
Verney, Edmund, 191. 
Verney, Sir Ralph, 191. 
Vesey, Captain Robert, 310. 
Vintner, Mr., 144. 

Virginia, letter from the Grand As- 
sembly of, 126. 



INDEX 



353 



Wades, near Arundel, 115. 
Wages, fixed by justices, 206. 

gradual rise of agricultural, 207. 

of household servants, 208, 211. 
Wakehurst, the mansion of, 14. 
Walberton, the Clubmen's quarters at, 

170. 

Waller, Sir William, attacks Ports- 
mouth, 38. 

prepares to attack Chichester, 48. 

sends a detachment to capture Arundel 
Castle, 50. 

besieges and takes Chichester, 52. 

discovers an attempt on his life, 54. 

deals with the prisoners, 55. 

present at the sacking of the cathe- 
dral, 59. 

Major-General of the associated 
counties, 67. 

his preparations at Farnham, 68. 

his views on soldiers' pay, 69. 

visits London, So. 

invades Sussex after his success at 
Alton, 82. 

rapidity of his advance, 82. 

after capturing Cowdray, takes the 
town of Arundel, 84. 

escapes assassination, 84. 

besieges Arundel Castle, 86. 

his correspondence with Lord Craw- 
ford, 90. 

faces Hopton, 91. 

his commission as major-general con- 
firmed, 91. 

Arundel Castle surrendered to him 
on his own terms, 93. 

receives the thanks of the House, 94. 

his difference with Colonel Stapley, 

95- 

his persistence and generalship not 

fully appreciated, 96. 
takes possession of the wreck of the 

St. James, 151. 
salvage awarded him, 152. 
a visitor at Herstmonceux, 209. 
Waller, Lady Anne, at Herstmonceux, 

209. 
Walsingham, Thomas, 176. 



Walton, Colonel, acts with Morley, 

3"- 

War, the, indecisive character of the 

first two years of, 163. 
division of families in, 190. 
humane conduct of, 195. 

Warbleton, Quakers at, 292. 

Warblington Castle, besieged by Hop- 
ton, 92. 

Warren, Captain Peter, 275. 

Warren, Rev. Thomas, curate of Rye, 

27, 30. 

Warwick, Earl of, blockades Ports- 
mouth, 38. 

the navy secured for the Parliament 
by, 264. 

Waters, John, pilot, 210. 

Welborne, Mr., 295. 

Wems, Colonel, 8l. 

Wesby, Mr., 295. 

Westbourne, population of, in 1641-2, 
18. 

West Dean, 91. 
the living of, 294, 

West Grinstead, population of, in 1641 - 
42,18. 

West Hoathly, riot at, 64. 

Westmeston, 26. 

Westminster Assembly of Divines, Sus- 
sex members of the, 137. 

Westmoreland, Lord, 209. 

Weymouth, trade in arms with, 65. 

Whalley, Lieut-General, 320. 

Wheathampstead, the King at, 1 86. 

Wheatley, Captain, 268. 

Whetham, Colonel, governor of Ports- 
mouth, 312. 

Whiligh in East Hoathly, 19. 

Whitacre, Rev. Mr., curate of Rye, 

3- 
Whitby, Mr. Oliver, curate of Petworth, 

his life threatened, 141. 
White, Colonel John, author of the 

"Century of Malignant Priests," 

142. 

White, Justice of the Peace, 31. 
White, Thomas, sequestrator of Hors- 

ham vicarage, 137. 



AA 



354 SUSSEX IN THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



Whitehom, Captain, 279. 

Whitelock, President, 307, 308. 

Whitfield, Thomas, member of Sussex 
Sequestrating Committee, 120. 

Wicker, a Parliamentary soldier, 149. 

Wilkason, Bryan, 291. 

Williams, Richard, Town Clerk of 
Chichester, fined, 123. 

Wilmot, Lord, contrasted with Goring, 

246. 
and the escape of Charles II, 254. 

Wilson, Mr., nonconformist, 113. 

Wilson, Mr., of Eastbourne Place, 188. 
his house searched, 300. 
his descendants, 326. 

Wilts and Dorset, origin of the Club- 
men's rising in, 166. 

Winchelsea under Edward the Con- 
fessor, 10. 

its early importance, II. 
its decay described by John Evelyn, 
267. 

Winchester Articles of Surrender, 131. 

Winchester, Marquis of, his defence of 

Basing House, 158. 
his correspondence with Colonel Mor- 
ley, 159. 

Windebank, Sir Francis, 13. 

Winnford, Captain, 45. 

Wisborough Green, population of, in 
1641-2, 18. 



Wiston, the mansion of, 14. 

seized by Cavaliers, 79. 

Cavalier flight from, 85. 
Wolfe, Nicholas, at Chichester, 45. 

treats with Waller for the surrender 

of the city, 53. 
Wood, Henry, 203. 
Wood, John, 203. 
Woodcock, Francis, 328. 
Woodcock, Henry, 326. 
Woodcock, Thomas, of Newtimber, 
joins Stapley's plot, 297. 

tried and acquitted, 302. 
Worcester, battle of, 252. 
Wray, Mr. William, at Chichester, 

44- 
Wrecks, the Sussex attitude towards, 

153- 

Wright, Robert, 182. 
Wynn, Mr., 227. 

Yacht, the first English, 2IO. 
Yalden [or Yaldwyn], William, of 
Blackdown, lessee of Lord Mont- 
ague's estate, 131. 
High Sheriff in 1656, 276. 
tradition of Cromwell's visits to, 

276. 

member for Midhurst, 305. 
Yates, Richard, 197, 288. 
Young, Major, 169, 252. 




CHISWICK PRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 



from which It was borrowed 




163-19 



P. 002 




am UCSC ILL 

DEC J t 19991 



\ 



/> M- ;. \ 



v* v ^- *tfwt w . s 

ss " 5 a 1 ' ^ 



P L 



^- '! % > 



l>J L 'pmj " y ^ 




II Hill 

A 000667555 7 






University of C 

Southern Re, 

Library Fac